Village Hidden in the Bay
by WraithRune
Summary: She was destined to be the saviour of her world. She was the fated antihero, coming into power on Jan 2011. Yet webs of fate could be altered. Realities away, a forbidden technique was used, and the web of destiny… was shattered.
1. Chapter 1

**Story Title: Village Hidden in the Bay**

**Crossover:** Worm/ Naruto

**Disclaimer:** This is a fanfiction. No profit is made from the story. Just a fan's way of keeping the fandoms alive.

**Summary:** She was destined to be the saviour of her world. She was the fated antihero, coming into power on Jan 2011. Yet webs of fate could be altered. Realities away, a forbidden technique was used, and the web of destiny… was shattered.

**Author's Note:**

Worm belongs to Wildbow (A remarkable grimdark parahuman web story. The whole dark setting of the universe made it an ideal fanfiction project for crossover fandoms, powers mix and match, just to make the apocalyptic universe have a better outcome.)

Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. One of the best Manga and Anime series. I lost track off it during the Naruto: Shippuden arc. I however still have fond memories of my Naruto manga collection from the first arc.

**Chapter One - Awakening**

_Bureaucracy of Deaths, Multiverse Sector C-13_

The universe is in a constant cycle… of order and chaos, peace and suffering, life and death. Each universe is a stream of creation sheathed in reality, and each reality spirals constantly in the near infinite multiverse.

In the great darkness, within the Source of All Origins, the Eternals were born, each governing a Cosmic Aspect, scattered in all the realities of the multiverse, to ignite chaos, to maintain order. Most mortal knew not of their existence, but of the cosmic aspects they represented, a minority were known, and feared by the mortals.

One such aspect was Death.

The Eternals of Death, stewards of souls, would collect the souls of the departed, return them to the Source of All Origins, where one day those souls would be called again into the infinite realities, reborn into new life.

The cycles were never broken, though once in a while, several civilizations or powerful mortals would find a way to place several stumbling blocks upon the cycles of mortality. One such bump, was occurring now, between two far flung realities.

The Eternals of Death situated within that area of realities, froze in their duties as the disruption sent ripples of abnormality through the multiverse. Their All Seeing Eyes found the perpetrator, a powerful mortal, one who called himself a ninja. The ninja had twisted his own soul and body as he continued his quest to gain immortality.

This ninja as of current time, was fighting against his own kind. He was also attempting a ninja technique that was forbidden. The technique would summon the souls of the dead, to place those souls within mortal containers, so that the he could animate three deceased and incredibly powerful ninjas of his world. These reanimated ninjas would be bond to the summoner's will, placed under his full control.

Two of the souls that were summoned, still lies within the Source of All Origins. The disruption to their soul cycles were at a bare minimum. The third soul to be summoned was however already reborn into **_two_** other realities. Temporal timelines after all had little effect on soul reincarnations. Parallel reincarnations of the same soul at the same time were however quite rare and would only happen under extremely circumstances dictated by the Fates.

The powerful reanimation technique used by the ninja would tear a piece of the soul that had been reborn, to summon it into mortal container under the ninja's control. Following the path of the reincarnated soul, one half of the soul, a male child, was reborn into the same world as the ninja, and would remain protected from the soul tearing due to a powerful death god seal attached to him. The second half, a female child born into a far flung reality, had no such protection.

The trauma of having a piece of one's soul torn away, would send the mortal body of the soul's female reincarnation into shock. Worst case scenario, the current female reincarnation would expire before its time, its soul returning to the Source of All Origins to wait out its next rebirth after its male half joined it. Best case scenario, the mortal self of the female reincarnation would survive, however memories of its previous lives would began remerging, perhaps even altering her physical body in ways unforeseen.

The Eternals of Death observed the situation for a long moment, a twinkle in the seas of time, then they relaxed. The female reincarnation would survive. The situation would smooth itself out without their intervention, though the Eternals of Fate would be having bitching fits about sorting out the now tangled web of destinies in a far flung reality.

The Eternals of Death took out their blacklist and wrote down the perpetrator's crime.

**Deaths' Blacklist**

_Orochimaru Takuru._

_Current reincarnation cycle. C Rank. Human. _

_Current Reality 647-A894. Sector 746. Planet 567._

_Current Transgression. Bearing intent to disrupt soul cycle of 3 souls. Successfully disrupted soul cycle of 2 souls. 1 of which was reincarnated. Destiny of reincarnation under peril._

_Total Transgression to date. Disrupted soul cycle of 7 souls. _

_Transgression tolerance has been exceeded._

_Punishment to be given. D Rank reincarnation cycle. _

_To be submitted for Eternals of Fate's approval. Sending…._

_…_

_…_

_…_

_Approved._

OoooO

_Reality 8757-A41, Earth, 28th May 2010_

The 6 hours ride from Delaware to Brockton Bay was killing her back. Sarah Livsey... no it was Lisa Wilbourn now, stretched lazily on the back seat of the bus, hearing a few bones popping. She could see the morning sun hanging over the highway and turned back to observe the few people that actually took the morning bus into the infamous city she was going to.

Her questing eyes landed on the business man in the front row, dressed in a worn overcoat, carrying a briefcase to his chest. Beside him was a travel luggage. Her mind whirled as she released her power, analysing each detail of the man.

_Age 35. Caucasian. Lost his old job, have found new employment in Brockton Bay. Nervous and uptight about his soon to be new life. Not carrying much money, neither does he have much savings._

Lisa blinked at the influx of information, shaking her head. The amounts of analytic info she could glean using her power still felt terrifying at times, but it was also empowering to her own ego. She could tell what someone's character was and their probable intentions just by looking and observing them. Nobody could hide anything from her.

Using her power too much tends to give her a migraine, but it was not as though there was anything to keep her occupied on the bus after all. Analysing a few ordinary people would not cause her powers any problems so she might as well get in some practice with her parahuman ability. Tilting her head, she observed the two roughly dressed couples snuggling into each other, while an old lady seated across from them was averting her eyes.

_Tattooed. Asian punks. Gang markings on forearm. Most probably belong to one of Brockton Bay's gang. Arrogant in knowledge no one will mess with them. Seeking trill of excitement in public exhibition of their sexuality. Going to be doing more than snuggling and kissing soon._

Lisa snorted, rolling her eyes at the information coming to her. It had been three months since she triggered… since her brother's death. And there were times she was still astonished about the dirty details she could find out about people. There were times where her power was both a gift and a curse, wrapped in one tidy package. Her thoughts idly wandered to what she knew of her own ability and parahuman powers in general.

Ever since 1982, following the first appearance of Scion, the first known seemingly immortal and all powerful parahuman, ordinary humans had begun triggering in great times of stress, gaining superhuman powers and abilities. The term capes was widely used to describe parahumans, people with superpowers. The name actually came about when a lot of the first generation capes began dressing in costumes to hide their identities.

The 1980s had been a time of great chaos, as a lot of those who gained superhuman abilities used their powers for selfish or wanton reasons. It was only when a group of powerful capes and government officials got together, forming an organisation in U.S to combat parahumans who misuse their powers, that order was reinstated. The initiative began to spread worldwide until today where almost every major country in the world have some form of parahuman defence task force.

The U.S based parahuman task forces became known as the Protectorate, and capes who worked under them were termed Heroes. The capes that actively used their powers for crimes became known as Villains, while those who stayed neutral in the 'cop and robber games' became the Rogues.

Then the appearance of three horrifying superpowered and inhuman monsters in the late 1980s nearly broke the tenacious peace. Given the term Endbringers, the three beings known as Behemoth, Simurgh and Leviathan were named due to their appearances and powers. No one knew if they were aliens or they were constructs created by some powerful parahuman. All everyone knew was that they wrecked great destructions across Earth at periodical intervals.

Even till today, no one knew why the Endbringers would attack cities and people. The attacks were so random and powerful that they were treated as natural disasters. Parts of Japan and Newfoundland were totally devastated by their attacks and millions of lives had been lost through the decades. It spoke of how dangerous they were that Heroes, Rogues and Villains would work together under a universal truce when the Endbringers appeared.

Humans however were resilient as a species, and with threat of massive casualties, plans were made to minimize death and destruction during Endbringer attacks. Education on parahuman history and powers were also taught in most school around the globe. Most of the governments in the world wanted their citizens to be aware of the dangers of Endbringers and capes, and how to identify possible parahumans when they came into their powers.

The Protectorate also explored more effective methods to locate the increasingly numerous capes that triggered, in hopes one could trigger a power that could deal with the Endbringers. Of course it took more than mental stress and physical distress to activate a Trigger Event. Even now, the best scientists and Thinkers could not answer exactly what were the criteria necessary to gain parahuman powers.

Considering her own ability, Lisa knew that her own power was some sort of superpowered intuition. It had triggered during the brief interval following her brother's suicide… when Lisa had been consumed with guilt over why she had not identified her brother's symptoms much faster and acted on it to stop him. If she was following the Protectorate's cape power classification, she would label herself as a mid-level Thinker cape.

Her power was actually the deciding factor that made her chose Brockton Bay as her next destination. She was on the run from her own parents, who had been forcing her to use her powers to prosper the family's business, while blaming her for not stopping her brother from committing suicide. Lisa had needed somewhere she could lay low and hide and her power had told her the city she was approaching was the best place to disappear.

Brockton Bay was considered one of the top U.S cities with high crime rates, especially since the recent collapse of the once prosperous dock areas. Within a year of the docks' collapse, parahuman gangs had set up bases in the god forsaken landscapes. Within another half a year and Brockton Bay's underbelly was well known to be dens of sin, with lucrative drug trade and smuggling businesses under control of several parahuman gangs.

Law enforcement was known to be relatively weak in Brockton Bay, especially given the control the established villain gangs had over the city. The more well-known ones like ABB and Empire Eighty-Eight were untouchable since even the Protectorate had problems with them.

It was doubtful any police or investigators her parents hired could find her once she had integrated herself into the city's backdrop. For the moment, the villain gangs were still reluctant to incite major clashes against the city's law enforcement and the Protectorate. As long as she played it smart and stay alert, she would be okay and not be trapped in any gang wars.

She had a small bag of clothes, but the money she had stolen from her parents before she had fled from them was almost used up. Fake ID and identity had cost a bomb, and she probably only had enough savings left to rent a motel for a few days. She did learn a lot about computers and programming while watching the hacker create her ID and identity.

But with reduced funds, she would need to find a job, and failing that, use her powers for petty theft. If it was the later she was to engage in, she should not have any problems using her powers to identify some easy rich marks to lift wallets from.

As the bus rolled past the street sign saying 'Welcome to Brockton Bay', Lisa gave a small tentative smile. She had made the choice to run, to cut off all ties to her parents. Now she had to sleep on the bed she had made, and create a whole new life for herself.

Thankfully there was a whole city to hide in, and with her power, Lisa was pretty sure she would be able to look out for herself. After all, words and information were her weapons, and unless she ended up in a physical cape fight, everything would be fine… wouldn't it?

OoooO

_Reality 8757-A41, Brockton Bay, 28th May 2010_

It was the last school day of May. After which would be a long Summer Vacation until August. For those twelve weeks, she could finally escape from the constant bullying campaign she suffered while in school.

Taylor Hebert fidgeted slightly in her seat. Her clothes still felt clammy from the orange juice Emma had dumped on her after lunch. Taylor had tried cleaning the mess as good as she could manage. But there was still a large stain on her shirt, and the patch still felt slightly moist.

Across the lane, Sophia Hess gave her a smirk. Taylor controlled the fury burning within the pit of her stomach. Since the start of the school year, Sophia, her ex-best friend Emma, and their pet follower Madison had made life miserable for her. The half a year long torture had been nearly enough to break her.

In the course of the past five months, they had ruined her seat, her homework, stolen her stuff and done much worse. Initially, Taylor had tried going to the school staff for intervention, but nothing ever happened. Taylor soon realised the school board was somehow turning a blind eye to the three bullies' actions. Whatever Taylor said was useless.

Noone would speak up in Taylor's defence, they were either too besotted with the three 'Beauties' of the High school, or they were too frightened by them. Sophia was athletic, Emma was a part time model, while Madison was the "cute" one. Even the teachers were taken with them, taking their side over Taylor's. They were the popular girls, they could do no wrong.

Crippled with a weak self-esteem and awkward social skills, Taylor knew that the best she could do was to avoid the bullies, so that they would not have a chance to ruin her day. Not to mention Taylor was still trying to get over the death of her mother that happened near the beginning of the year. With only five more minutes till the last bell rang, Taylor was already planning her exit strategy, so that the three bitches would not have a chance to corner her.

She planned to escape with the rushing crowd of students, go down the side staircase and quickly make way for the school entrance. Her books were already packed. Her bag half slung across her shoulders as she waited for Mr. Gladly to finish talking about his requirements for the winter assignment.

The last bell rang and there was a stampede as everyone began making for the door, even as Mr. Gladly dismissed the class. Taylor made to follow, quickly cutting across a desk lane to avoid Sophia, pushing her way through the crowd to the door. She almost made it…

_Blinding pain stabbed through her chest._ Her back arching back as she let lose a strangled cry.

_Her mind shrilled with pain. A blaze of white light filled her vision. _Something within her tore apart, sending her whole body into convulsions.

Distantly, she thought she heard screams, as bright white light burnt her sight.

Pain radiated everywhere, and then there was blessed numbness.

As the light went out.

OoooO

Taylor had no idea what happened. One moment she was rushing to the entrance, trapped within the crowd of her classmates. Then she had something like a cardiac arrest, her body had gone out of her own control as pain wrecked her. She must have sank into unconsciousness, because when she woke, she found herself here…

It was as though she was dumped into another world, in another time. The land before her was rich with life, filled with giant blooming trees, with flowering plants she had never seen before. It however also boiled with war and strife. How she knew about the land being at war, she had no idea, but the world around her began to blur, as if she was moving in a fast motion picture, until she found herself in a warm and shuttered room.

A woman was in labour, aided by a mid-wife. Blood was everywhere… and then the child was born.

…

He was born during the Warring States Period, where there was no peace, only war between hundreds of shinobi clans. The leaders of the Elemental Nations employed the shinobi, turning clans against clans, all for the rights of lands and property.

During this time of struggle, two clans came to be feared as the strongest. They were the Senju clan and Uchiha clan, both whom developed deep enmity against each other, as they were often hired to oppose one another.

He, Hashirama Senju, lost two younger brothers before he even reached the age of twenty. Together with his last remaining brother Tobirama, and his dear friend Madara Uciha, he sought to unite the shinobi, and bring peace to the land.

Decades of struggles passed before the three achieved their dreams. He became a powerful sage, possessing the most powerful Wood Release bloodline of the Senju. His brother Tobirama was known as the most powerful Ninjutsu and Water Release expert of his time. Madara possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, the highest level of the Sharingan bloodline, and knew thousands of Ninjutsu techniques.

With the three's efforts, they formed alliances between the Senju, the Uchiha and various other shinobi clans, establishing the shinobi village of Konoha. Hashirama was made the First Hokage, leader of Konoha, and he brought peace to the village and the surrounding lands.

When Madara turned against him, their epic battle reshaped the landscape of their battle site. The fires of war began to rage across the countries again, and he perished while protecting Konoha from an attack by a shinobi army.

Death had been a release and…

…

…

He was revived again, summoned into a body shaped to look like his old physical self. Powerful seals were placed on this body, forcing him to obey the summoner's command.

Hashirama instantly realised the technique that summoned him as one highly forbidden technique created by his late brother Tobirama. It was the Impure World Reincarnation Summoning technique, which requires a human sacrifice to reanimate a deceased soul and place whoever was summoned under the summoner's control.

He turned to face his summoner, a pasty faced shinobi that radiates an aura of negative chakra. Hashirama also discovered he was standing on top of Konoha's shinobi stadium, giving him a clear view of the village he had founded.

Smoke and fires in the distance spoke of Konoha being under attack, and the rooftop he was in was surrounded by a powerful barrier seal, keeping Konoha's Anbu outside the barrier, while the ninja that summoned him was having a face off with a withered old man that seemed familiar… wearing the hat signifying the Third Hokage of Konoha. It did not take much to deduct that the old man was Sarutobi, Hashirama's former student and third successor to the village.

Beside Hasirama, two coffins were raising out of the rooftop. One opened fully, revealing his brother Tobirama, also revived by the forbidden technique, the other coffin was stopped half way by Sarutobi, who disrupted the technique.

Though this revived body of his bears only a portion of his original strength, he still had enough power to level the entire village given enough time. Hasirama felt great regret as he and his brother was forced to fight his former student. Yet pride filled him as Sarutobi parried blows after blows, before trapping and sealing him, along with his brother, back into the realms of death.

…

…

He walked down the tunnel of light, out of the Source of All Origins, back towards where his true self resides, towards a skinny black haired young girl, who looked at him with awe and fright.

He stopped in front of her, both of them surrounded by the tunnel of blinding light, and chuckled. "So you are my next reincarnation... or at least one half of it. You are a skinny little thing aren't you?"

"What happened? What is going on? The things you did… the things I saw, at least those that I can remember seeing… you are more powerful than any parahumans I ever seen… except for Scion and the Endbringers." The girl stammered in fear.

"I am the past self of your soul." Hashirama said with a wryly smile. "The previous reincarnation cycle of our soul. Just as you are the present soul cycle, the current reincarnation."

"I don't understand." The girl stammered in fear. Her trembling ceased as Hashirama laid a gentle hand on her head.

"Don't worry. You will understand in time. With what happened to cleave our soul apart, my consciousness within your soul is awakened. I will… be around now to guide you in a way." Hashirama said, walking with her towards the other end of the tunnel. "What happened to us is unprecedented but fortunate. Having my conscious awakening in our soul allows me to imprint on your physical body, causing mild changes that will allow your body to take on characteristics of my old physical self."

"Changes to my body?" The girl asked with wide eyed horror. "Am I… am I going to turn into you?"

"Unless I forcefully imprint your entire body, that's very little chance of that happening. I have already lived one life, I am content with it. Your Earth, your father, they are your life, not mine, and I will not intrude on that." Hashirama said with a grin. His current girly reincarnation was just so mousey that the impish part of his self could not help teasing her a bit. "You will still keep your girl parts, I am just going to 'encourage' your physical body a little, seed, activate and strengthen your chakra system so you can use ninja techniques, begin encouraging the Wood Release bloodline to blossom in your physical body so you can tap into Wood chakra and all the other Elemental chakra."

"But why… why are you doing things like that?" The girl asked, apprehensive as to why Hashirama would empower her in such a way.

"While you were seeing the entire memories of my past, I was seeing the entire memories of _your_ life to date." Hashirama with a frown, a serious look on his face. "Let's just say I understand what you have to go through at school, and the threat your world actually faced from parahumans that misused their powers, and those Endbringers of Earth. Having a strong chakra system and the Wood Release bloodline will ensure you recover from physical wounds more quickly. Having the ability to use elemental manipulation techniques means you are more likely to survive the harsh dangers of your world."

"But… why would you even help me?" The girl asked in confusion, pulling away from him a little.

Hashirama grinned at her. "I am you, just as you are me. We are the same soul, just from different cycle, time… and space. Why wouldn't I help myself in this strange world of yours? Not to mention, it will be entertaining at the very least to see what a female me can accomplish. Mito will be highly amused at the very least."

"Mito… you mean your wife? The red haired woman I saw in your memories?" The young girl asked slowly.

Hashirama smiled, looking into the distance. "Yes Taylor. And one day when we return to the Source of All Origins, when our soul regained its entire consciousness, I hope to see Mito's soul again. Perhaps you might even find your own soul mate before this cycle of ours ends. The wheel of life and death never ends after all."

The two continued their walk down the tunnel as Hashirama chuckled. "It is going to be one long walk to the other end from the Source of All Origins. Since I am going to imprint my powers on your body, let me teach you a few tricks in how to use them. I will be a guiding voice at the back of your head once you return to your body, but it will still be useful for you to have a few chakra techniques to start yourself off."

Taylor paused, staring down the tunnel leading before them, and then turning to look at Hashirama wryly. "And how long is it going to take us to reach the other end?"

"Well, time is a little different in the soul tunnel." Hashirama said, scratching his head as he grinned. "It will feel like months for us to get to the other end, but most probably only days or weeks would have passed back in your Earth."

"WHAT!"

OoooO

He finished work with a leaden heart. His colleagues looked at him with understanding as he left work right on the dot, quickly making his way to Brockton Bay's General Hospital. It had been five days. Five days since Winslow High's Nurse had called him, saying that Taylor had some kind of cardiac arrest and had to be sent to the hospital immediately.

His panicky rush to the hospital had only been met with the sight of his daughter lying pale faced on a hospital bed, surrounded by monitoring equipment. The doctors were baffled at what had happened to Taylor. Their scans had apparently found no signs of heart attack or brain damage, yet Taylor had slipped into coma by the time they managed to get her to the hospital.

Taylor had been kept in observation for the next five days. And for five days Danny Hebert had sat in silent vigil beside his daughter's bed after work, hoping she would wake up one day. His limited funds were running low, work had not paid well these past few years ever since the docks closed. He might have to pull Taylor off life support soon if he could not find a way to continue paying the bills.

Sinking his head wearily on the bed where Taylor laid unconscious, Danny began to drift to sleep, from his seat next to the bed. He had no idea what woke him. He had a vague recollection of a suddenly wave of heat washing over him. The very air seemed to tingle sharply. There was also a presence, a powerful one. Firm and Gentle, the _scent_ of moist earth, the _sensation_ of nature and life surrounding him… Danny lifted his head, blinking in confusion, only half awake.

The hospital windows showed that night had fallen and the patients on the other bed were asleep, only one other patient had family staying for the night, and the fella was already stretched out on a portable hospital guest bed unconscious to the world.

The sounds of heavy breathing drifted to his ears. Turning, he jerked upright, snapping out of the sleep induced blur in an instant as he saw Taylor's flushed cheeks. Her face and skin were no longer pale and clammy. There were colours in her cheeks, and she seemed healthier… much healthier than when he saw her a few hours ago.

There was a soft gasp, and then Taylor snapped her eyes open, her body quickly coming up in a sitting position as she grabbed her chest with her right hand, breathing hard.

"You jerk! You didn't say it would hurt so much!" Taylor cursed in a sharp voice, her eyes still unfocused.

"Taylor?" Danny asked incredulously, grabbing at his daughter's hand, to reassure himself that Taylor was alright now, even though what she said did not make any sense.

Taylor froze, turning stiffly, her eyes went wide as she saw who was beside her.

"Dad!" Taylor sputtered, flushing quickly. "Oh god dad I am so sorry! How long was I out?"

"Five days." Danny said, engulfing his daughter in a hug which she returned. "I got the call from school and when I came down to the hospital, they told me you have slipped into a coma."

"Five days!" Taylor gasped, his daughter's eyes widening in shock. "But the bills."

"I will settle it." Danny said firmly, not wanting his daughter to worry about that. He knew Taylor was aware of how bad their monetary situation was, but his daughter was still a teenager in high school, he would find some ways to take care of the family's money matters. "Just worry about getting well again, I will get the doctors to look at you, maybe they can…"

"Dad." Taylor cut in, pulling out of the hug to look him in the eye. "I am fine now, really. I hadn't felt so much better in my entire life!"

Before Danny could stop her, Taylor had wriggled out of the hospital bed, pulling the various needles out of her arms, causing the machines they were connected to, to begin beeping furiously. As Danny gaped at her, Taylor walked around the bed back to him, looking as though she had not been lying unconscious for the past five days.

"See? I am fine, nothing to worry about." Taylor said reassuringly. "I am hungry though. Do you think we can return home dad? I don't want to spend another night here…"

Taylor never got to finish her words as a doctor and two nurse rushed in, though the three of them stopped at the sight of Taylor standing next to her bed. The doctor however recovered quickly and stalked towards Taylor with a frown. As the doctor ignored Taylor's protest that she was fine and guided her away to the examination room, Danny resigned himself to staying another night at the hospital, but at least now, his daughter was awake.

OoooO

The city was coming alive by the time the Heberts reached home. Taylor had prepared breakfast while her father had gone to his room after making sure that she would be fine on her own. Her father had called off work, asking for an off day. Having seen the heavy eye bags under her father's eyes, Taylor knew that he most probably had not had a good rest since she became unconscious.

A bowl of cereal was all it took to satisfy her hunger, even as she glorified in how energized and strong her body had become. Hashirama Senju, her past self had tried explaining things to her through their months long journey back to her body. Taylor had not understood all of the reincarnation stuff, but she understood enough not to panic when she was back in her body. It had been a relief to discover only five days of real world time had gone by while she was trekking across the spirit plane.

_This place is cosy, but it could do with some appropriate decorations._ Hashirama commented within her head, while she was slurping cereal while snuggling in the living room couch.

_Since when are you a fashion police?_ Taylor snarked back, her body was still aching from the imprint process Hashirama had done to her. According to the powerful ancient ninja, he had to forcibly connect Taylor's mental energies to her physical lifeforce by creating a whole new chakra system from scratch. Apparently the people of her world do not come part and parcel with a working chakra system.

Getting to really know her past self face to face had been a much different experience then viewing his memories. For all that Hashirama Senju was the most powerful ninja of the Elemental Countries, for all his charisma and fearsome reputation, the man could be incredibly nosy and childish at times.

The time in the spirit tunnel had been insightful yet frustrating. Taylor was nearly driven mad with the way Hashirama injected lame jokes and pranks while teaching her various hand seals for chakra manipulation techniques. Her past self was so different from her that there were times she wondered how they could possibly share a singular soul.

_A few flowers will do wonders to liven up the place._ Hashirama said goading slightly. Taylor could almost see him grinning as he spoke.

_You just want to see if I remember all the practice in the spirit plane._ Taylor grumbled, lying the bowl of cereal on the table.

With the changes Hashirama had made to her body, Taylor could easily tap into her active chakra system, pulling out some of her chakra.

_Your body currently possessed High Genin level chakra reserves and your Wood release bloodline though potent is very much weaker than mine. There are ways… to focus and enhance the power of our bloodline other than mind numbing practice. There is also a **secret** to the chakra possessed by our soul, to make it even more potent and powerful… a hidden legacy from one of our previous reincarnation. But that's a topic for another day._ Hashirama confessed. _I have already stressed your body to its maximum with the imprint of my essence on your physical self. Any more alterations will most likely cause detrimental effects on your physical self, resulting in a full imprint. You will need to grow stronger through constant practice and training. And in time, I will teach you more ways to enhance the power you now have._

_Thanks sensei._ Taylor sent back mentally. It was a term of endearment that Taylor had used ever since Hashirama began teaching her back in the spirit tunnel. Sending chakra to strengthen her fingers, she could feel the warmth of her physical and spiritual energies pooling at her fingers.

Her hands began to flicker into the various handseals needed to utilize a Wood Release technique. Though her handseals speed was not as fast as the ninjas in Hashirama's world, with chakra pooling at her fingers, the handseals making speed she managed was considered respectable for a budding Ninja Academy student. She made a mistake with a handseal, fumbled and had to restart the technique again as she felt the chakra she gathered dissipating.

Giving a frustrated growl, Taylor restart the handseals sequence again, but fumbled again half way through. The third time round, Taylor formed the handseals at a much slower pacing and finally succeeded. The technique took form as Wood Element chakra in her chakra system was formed and moulded into a proper technique. A bunch of beautiful red blossoms from Hashirama's world grew out of her hands and broke off, lying on her lap.

The Wood Release bloodline was essentially a powerful form of plant manipulation. Any ninja with the bloodline could use Wood chakra to infuse a plant, gather and remember the essence of a plant, regrow the plant essence from Wood chakra, or even modify the plant essence with the bloodline. Hashirama was so proficient in using his Wood Release bloodline that he could internally manipulate Wood Chakra into various techniques _without_ the use of handseals. It was something that he had achieved with decades of training and conditioning of his body, of which Taylor did not possess.

Through his long life in his world, Hashirama had built up an impressive plant essence library within his head. He could easily replicate potent herbs or poisonous plants from his world, even many food crops. He could sprout plant life from various surfaces and even his own body. He had taught Taylor the technique to remember some of the plant essences he remembered. The Summer Blooms sitting on Taylor's lap was a type of herbal plant with mild healing properties, this plant essence was handled down from Hashirama to Taylor during their months long journey.

_Very good. Even though you needed to slow down your handseals making speed at a snail's pace to accomplish your first ninja technique, you did a good job for a first timer._ Hashirama said with part criticism and part approval. As part of an awakened soul, he could gain access to Taylor's senses. He was most probably seeing the flowers with Taylor's eyes right now.

Taylor had set some ground rules when she first found out he could do that. They agreed that there were times when Hashirama would not have access to her senses, like when Taylor was in the bathroom or any of her personal time out.

_Your chakra control still needs working on. You nearly drained half your entire chakra pool forming that low level Wood release technique. Good job for a first successful practical try. At least all the theoretical work I have drilled into your head actually works. _Hashirama continued his assessment.

Taylor rolled her eyes as she went to the kitchen to get a vase to put the flowers in. _Everyone's a critic._ She thought back, but there was a smile on her lips as she arrange the flowers in a vase and placed them on the living room coffee table. _Let me have a little more time to settle in, restore my chakra reserve, and then we will begin the plans we came up with back in the spirit plane._

The long journey through the spirit tunnel with only Hashirama to talk to and act as her guide meant that the two of them had spent a lot of time plotting how Taylor would use her new powers. Through Taylor's memories, Hashirama had known how chaotic Earth had become with the appearance of parahumans and Endbringers, he had wanted Taylor to be able to protect herself and contribute back to her world in some ways.

Hashirama was not going to dictate her life, but he would be around to advise her if needed. As he had succulently said during the long journey. This current soul cycle was not _his_ life, but _hers_. The decisions Taylor needed to make were hers alone. The purpose of reincarnations was for the soul to grow and mature with each cycle. Taylor would need to grow on her own, albeit with a little help from Hashirama.

Taylor had considered being an independent cape, a rogue of sorts. There was no way she would join the Protectorate, because with her age, she would be dumped into the Wards, and she was not exactly dying to see the parahuman version of teenage angst and drama. There was enough of that going on in Highschool.

As for being a villain, Taylor had not even considered it. Taylor and Hashirama did begin the bare bones of a plan to increase Taylor's own resources and set up a base where she could begin her ninja training in secrecy. The techniques Hashirama taught her were highly catered to that aspect. Due to Hashirama imprinting on her physical body, Taylor's chakra became a weaker duplicate form of Hashirama's own chakra, which in its natural form contains powerful Water and Earth elements, as well as weaker Wind, Fire, Lightning, Yang and Yin elements which Hashirama managed to cultivate in later years.

Hashirama was called the God of Shinobi in his world for a reason, and was one of the rare ninjas who actually master the five basic chakra elements. This basically meant Taylor would do very well with techniques utilizing the five basic chakra elements _(Water, Earth, Wind, Fire, Lightning)_ and the two exotic chakra elements _(yang, yin)_. Add in the Wood release bloodline which would instinctively combine Water and Earth to form Wood element chakra, using most of the elementary and some of the more advanced chakra techniques would in theory, come very easily to Taylor, even if she was a first timer.

As her first test had proven, she could wield Wood chakra easily, she would have to test Water and Earth, followed by the rest of the chakra elements much later. Her chakra pool was limited at the current time, so she would be needing quite a while, a periods of rest to replenish her chakra, to really explore and get used to manipulating the power she now possessed.

It took an hour for her to finish breakfast and rested enough to restore her current chakra reserves. Carefully making her way behind the stairs, she opened the door leading to the basement of her house. The basement was one part of the house that she and her father had seldom accessed. When mom was alive, she would make it a monthly family day to clean and maintain the place. But with mom gone, the basement was pretty much left alone, to be accessed periodically for some of the storage archives.

This made the basement the best location to start off her secret base. Closing the basement door behind her softly so as to not wake her father, Taylor descended into the basement, moving past the old washing machine that was spoilt and had been sitting down here for the past year. She manoeuvre around the boxes of old photo albums and stuff her mom had collected during her tenure as a college teacher. She finally reached the far corner of the basement and wrinkled her nose at the smell. The walls were leaking again, she would have to do something about them later.

Moving a few boxes around, she began to clear some space on the floor, in the corner of the basement. She then carefully kneel down, avoiding the moist patches of the basement floor, and began making the handseals for Earth technique: Earth Sense. It was basically a High Genin level ninja technique that was used by scouts to sense what was in, on and around a specific patch of ground infused with chakra.

She failed the first attempt because of a wrong handseal, her second and third attempts were similarly duds, she finally got it on the fourth. Feeling the formation of power on her hands, she slammed her palms on the cleared space before her. The Earth element chakra poured from her palms in a controlled flow into the ground, infusing a significant area.

At the edge of her mind, images, like a black and white, grayscale pictures began to form. She could "see" wriggling worms under the ground she was touching. She saw the location for her house's foundations. She saw stone blocks of past construction attempts before the house was built over. There was even a nest of what looks like rats. The grayscale images of the huge number of bug life and cockroaches was enough to make her skin crawl.

Taylor cut off the Earth element sensor technique, taking a moment to compose herself as the images she saw retreated from the back of her head. Now that she knew where her house's foundations were, she could try out her next technique. The Earth technique: Tunnel Expansion was basically a mid-level, Chunin level, ninja technique, that was used by ninjas to construct underground tunnels.

The technique could also be used to create underground rooms deep within the earth bed. She planned to try out a weaker version of it first to test the waters before doing full scale earth shuffling underground. A less powerful Genin would need lots of safe ground to test the technique, Taylor had an edge in that area as the chakra control and reserve she now possessed was enough to ensure if things go wrong, she would not end up sinking her whole house.

She failed the first attempt because of a wrong handseal, her second and third attempts were similar failures, she finally got it on the fourth. Feeling the formation of power on her hands, she slammed her palms on the cleared space before her. The Earth element chakra poured from her palms in a controlled flow. She heard a soft groan as something within the cement floor and earth bed underneath began to move. Then the basement cement floor she was lying her hands on began breaking into dust, sinking into a deep dark tunnel that seemed to stretch all the way down.

_Well… it is not bad for the first try. But I think we might have missed some crucial parts in the planning process._ Hashirama said after Taylor stared down at the long dark tunnel opening in front of her with a long silence.

_You think?_ Taylor thought back incredulously. _Where are we going to get the lights to light the damn tunnel? And how are we going to get down there?_

_Well I don't exactly have much experience in building underground bunkers, Tobirama was usually the one that handled that part of the village duties with the help of my clan. There was always a ready supply of clan Genin and Chunin to dump the work on. I was always more of a front line kind of guy._ Hashirama defended himself._ I guess we could modify the tunnel with another Earth technique so it would not go so deep. As for lights, I know some seals that could produce light, but we lack the materials right now to make chakra ink, which means we will have to grow the plants to make the ink first._

_And since I only have High Genin level chakra reserves, and is just starting out using chakra manipulation. With limited reserves on my hands and to carter for my mistakes, it will take days before we can get anywhere with our plans for the underground base._ Taylor sent back a mental sigh.

_Well this can be a good thing. We all know you will not get things right on every first tries. You have an advantage over most Genin who took years to develop their reserves and control. But in the end, you lack any practical experience in using your power._ Hashirama said realistically. _Just use the time, make sure you don't cause any major mistakes with your techniques._ _We are not in a rush anyway. Better to do things nice and easy, then to end up sinking your own home. On a side note however, we'll need to hide this dark pit you've created. It will be disastrous for someone to fall into it._

OoooO

**Ninja Terms:**

Chakra: A moulding combination of spiritual and physical energies (mind/ mental energies + body/ lifeforce). Some ninjas are born with certain chakra elemental affinity in their system. Usually these ninjas are born from established clans whose ninja bloodline stretch generations.

Chakra Elements: There were the common five basic elements: Fire, Earth, Water, Wind and Lightning. There were also other rarer more exotic elements (advanced elements) like Wood, Dust or Lava. Having an elemental affinity meant that the user would have an easier time moulding chakra of that element or even using techniques relating to them.

Genin: Rookie Ninjas

Chunin: Mid-Level Ninjas

Jonin: High-Level Ninjas

**Notes:** This is a "past self" crossover fic between Taylor and Hashirama. Taylor's body was basically enhanced to contain High Genin Chakra, Genin Chakra Control, with Wood Release bloodline that will increase in strength with practice.

She views Hashirama's memories as "moving pictures"/ "movies", much like when someone is learning a new skill from a video. Due to that, she had no emotional attachment to the memories, neither does she have Hashirama's muscle memories or dexterity. She needs to memorise the actions and replicate it, and get better through time. Hashirama exists as a voice in her head, providing guidance if needed.

She has strong Earth and Water elements due to the Wood Release bloodline. In this story, (AU) Hashirama managed to train up his Wind element during his past life. His Wind element was weaker then Earth and Water, and it was the third chakra element that Taylor now possessed.

**[Edited 28/12/2014]**

Based on Naruto canon, Hashirama possess the five basic chakra elements, he knows how to use yang release, and most probably yin release. As such, I am modifying the story to fit what that. Let's take it for this (AU) crossover story, Taylor will have strong Earth and Water elements due to the Wood Release bloodline. Strong Yang elements due to his constant strength, endurance and medical training. Less powerful elements in Wind, Fire, Lightning and Yin. Thus Taylor's more powerful future techniques would revolve around Wood, Water, Earth and Yang elements.

**Wraithrune's Thanks:**

_Knightowl 4183, Wawv: _Thank you for highlighting to me my inconsistencies with Hashirama's original powers and abilities. =D I have edited the story to fit in with Naruto canon.

_Knightowl 4183: _Thanks Knightowl :) for the bit about Brockton Bay Brigade, I missed that detail. Appreciate you voicing out.

_naruto-nerd: _Thanks for highlighting the Naruto canon :) I have adjusted the story to fit with the known facts.

As for the seals to contain Jinchūriki, I was trying to build a back story. If I am not wrong, the Four Trigrams Sealing Style used on Kushina _(developed most probably by Mito, as she was the first to ever successfully contain Kurama within herself)_ was supposed to be a variant of a sealing technique based on the fūinjutsu of the Uzumaki clan.

The seals used on Killer B and Fu are supposed to be different, not of Uzumaki origin, at least I didn't see any links to the Uzumaki in canon. And are supposed to be created by their own villages.


	2. Chapter 2

**Story Title: Village Hidden in the Bay**

**Crossover:** Worm/ Naruto

**Disclaimer:** This is a fanfiction. No profit is made from the story. Just a fan's way of keeping the fandoms alive.

**Summary:** She was destined to be the saviour of her world. She was the fated antihero, coming into power on Jan 2011. Yet webs of fate could be altered. Realities away, a forbidden technique was used, and the web of destiny… was shattered.

**Chapter Two –Beginning**

_Reality 8757-A41, Brockton Bay, 13th June 2010_

Thirteen days had passed since she woke up back in her body. Thirteen days was also enough time for her to begin getting used to and become more comfortable with her chakra manipulation abilities. When Hashirama imprinted on her physical body, some of his chakra control was passed on to her, which meant that she had been able to pull and mould her chakra from the beginning, though her current chakra control could still be improved further.

The speed of her handseals were good enough for the first few tries, but Hashirama had made several comments over the days of how she would need to improve upon them, because if she was back in Hashirama's world, an academy ninja with less potential then her, but faster handseal making speed, or faster physical speed, would be able to disable her before she unleased any powerful techniques. Making faster handseals might not affect her right now, but if she ever got into cape fights in future, she would need that extra edge to produce fast ninja techniques.

As was becoming routine, her father would left for work early in the morning, while she would stay in for the school holidays. With her limited funds, there was not much places she could go to, and she would much rather spend more time getting used to her powers and building up her underground base.

The moment her dad had left the house, Taylor had washed up the dishes and make her way down the basement. With practiced ease, she walked around the piles of obstacles she had carefully placed to hide the way to the other end. She arrived at the far corner of the basement where to all appearance, it ended up against the wall.

In actual fact, Taylor had reproduced the plant materials needed to produce chakra ink, and was able to begin the Art of Seal making. Taylor had shifted some of the stuff in the basement away from the wall, and applied a specific seal array, under Hashirama's instructions, in the stretch of cleared floor against the far wall. It had taken seconds for the seal arrays to begin working, and to normal sight, the stretch of cleared floor was now replaced by the basement walls pressing in. Unless someone actually measured the dimension of the basement, or walk directly into the wall, no one would be able to tell that the stretch of wall was actually an illusion.

In Hashirama's world, there were different categories of chakra manipulation. The first and most common was Ninjutsu, the Art of Ninja Techniques. Ninjutsu used handseals for chakra manipulation to accomplish incredible feats such as changing of appearance, healing someone, short distance teleport, create fire dragons or summon a tidal wave.

There was also Genjutsu, the Art of Illusion. Genjutsu used handseals for chakra manipulations that disrupt the mind and senses, an incredibly subtle and deadly art requiring immerse chakra control.

The third staple of the ninja world was Taijutsu. Chakra was formed by combining one's own physical energies and spiritual strength. For ninjas specializing in Taijutsu, they only tap on one half of chakra's aspect, the physical energies. They could use their own physical energies to unleash hidden potentials in the human body, strengthening their body's endurance, physical power and speed.

The fourth and least common was Fūinjutsu, the Art of Seal making. It was from this art that handseals were born. An incredible and ancient chakra art, there were very few Fūinjutsu users who could claim mastery in the craft. In its raw and most simple form, it requires the use of special chakra ink to channel minuscule amounts of chakra to accomplish incredible feats. Enough knowledge of seals meant Seal Masters with the know-how could replicate any known Ninjutsu and Genjutsu techniques through written seal arrays given time.

Hashirama was considered a master in Ninjutsu, especially with his powerful Water, Earth and Wood Release techniques, a number of the later which were self-created. He had a reputation as a medical ninja after he mastered Yang release. He also had certain skills in Genjutsu due to his incredible chakra control and mastery of Yin element in later years. After he managed to gain the essence of several powerful hallucinogenic plants, he was able to pair his Wood Release Ninjutsu with mid-level Genjutsu to great effect.

What was less known was his powers in Fūinjutsu. The art was a slow form that could not be deployed instantly in battle without prior preparations. This meant that there were little records of his skills with it. Though largely unrecognized by his peers, Hashirama was a Seal Master in his own right. He was in fact the one that got his brother Tobirama to begin learning about seals, though Tobirama soon begin to outstrip Hashirama in seal craft within a few years.

His wife Mito Uzumaki, also possessed incredible Fūinjutsu knowledge. And even though Hashirama could never reach the level of Mito and Tobirama in Seal crafting, he was aware of the common and major seals, and even some of the rare and more powerful seal arrays created by Mito and Tobirama.

Hashirama also had a distinct advantage over most Seal Masters. The plants needed to create chakra ink were incredibly rare and difficult to grow. One major factor that deterred a lot of ninjas from learning Fūinjutsu was due to how expensive chakra ink were. The moment Hashirama had gained enough control over his Wood Release bloodline, he had recorded and memorised the essence of the plants needed to create chakra ink so that he could regrow them much easily.

Much of the Senju clan's wealth made during his era was due to his trade and sales of rare plants that he grew with his bloodline. In fact it could be said that Konoha, the village he helped formed with Madara and Tobirama's help, was largely financed through manipulation of his bloodline to grow shelter, crops, herbs and rare plants for trade.

Hashirama was also known as a Taijutsu expert, a powerful Sage said to be the level of the legendary Sage of the Six Path and master of many weapons. After all, there was a reason his peers nicknamed him the God of Shinobi for his unmatched ninja might. Though Hashirama did note that he would teach Taylor about Senjutsu, the Art of manipulating nature's energies, and weapon mastery in future, right now they were concentrating mainly on her Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Fūinjutsu.

Mastering weapons takes time since muscle memories need time to train. Right now Taylor had an advantage in learning Ninjutsu and Fūinjutsu due to the significant chakra pool, chakra elements, and chakra control passed on to her through Hashirama. A Genin or Chunin level ninja technique which would take most ninjas in Hashirama's world months to learn, can be accomplished by Taylor within hours or minutes due to her chakra advantage and Hashirama's nagging guidance.

Having chakra force similar to a Senju meant that she healed faster and was physically tougher. With the techniques Hashirama created for concentrating chakra in parts of the body to enhance speed and strength, Taijutsu was the third viable option for Taylor to quickly master.

Taylor stepped through the illusion wall, feeling the tingle of chakra raising hairs on her body as she appeared on the other side, standing on a long stretch of cleared floor. Turning she could see out into the basement, but all anyone on the other side could see was just a blank wall. The seal array creating the illusion was maintained by nature energies collected from the environment. Theoretically it could continue powering the illusion for decades, provided no one disrupt the array.

She made her way briskly to the left corner of the empty stretch of floor, bending down to lift the wooden trapdoor that covered the entrance to her secret base. One good thing about Brockton Bay was that the water, gas and electricity pipeline of the older buildings such as Taylor's home, tends to be placed above ground. She basically only had to worry about not disrupting her house's foundations while creating her secret base with Earth Release techniques.

It had taken her one whole day to craft stairs down the tunnel to what would be her lair. Another eight days to create two large underground bunkers with Lumination seals, as well as enough wooden and stone supports so that they would not collapse in on themselves. Once that was done, she had begun the process of creating an intricate _Chakra Shield_ seal array, used mainly in Hashirama's world for anti-spying purposes, across the two underground bunkers.

With the amounts of strange cape powers in the world these days, she needed something that could hide her secret base from external detection. Although the _Chakra Shield _seal array was untested against cape powers in Taylor's world, it was better than having no protection. The inking of the seal array was a slow, painstaking affair, but it was a necessary evil.

Unlike most seals, activating the _Chakra Shield_ array consumed most of her chakra, before the array could generate enough _inertia_ of sort to begin powering itself with ambient energies in the environment. There were of course chakra techniques to disrupt the _Chakra Shield_, but since no one on Earth, that she had seen seemed to have any knowledge of chakra manipulation, the anti-spy protection should be sufficient in the meantime.

As for the last four days, once the two underground bunkers were completed, she spent the time practising basic ninja techniques, creating furniture for the two bunkers, and preparing one of the bunkers to be her "Greenhouse". Each bunker was thrice the size of her living room. The first bunker would be used for training, while the second would be used to grow the plants she needed. She was already growing fruits, carrots and tomatoes for the family fridge the past few days.

Taylor did have plans to go out later in the day to get some fruits and plant seeds that Hashirama did not have access to. It would be nice to have some oranges and sugar beets which surprisingly Hashirama's world did not have access to. Her funds were currently limited, but she was already thinking of ways to increase her resources given time.

Hashirama, when he was not busy being one of the most powerful ninja of his world, was also a very shrewd businessman. Konoha, the village he founded, had prospered under his rule. The Senju coffers had increased drastically under his careful plant sales and transaction. Hashirama had used his Wood release bloodline to become extremely wealthy, and he was more than willing to share his business acumen and enterprising spirit with Taylor.

Making her way down the tunnel stairs, the walls luminated with a soft white glow from the Lumination seals, Taylor stepped into the first bunker, the training bunker. She had created several chairs, a bed, cupboards and shelves with the Wood Release bloodline the previous day, all clustered near the tunnel entrance. The rest of the bunker was left empty except for the giant wood supports, inscribed with long twinning sets of _Strengthening_ seals, holding up the underground bunker.

The empty spaces were designed for her Ninjutsu and Taijutsu training, but currently she was not here for that. Instead, she made her way across the bunker. There was a wooden door at the other end. Opening it, she entered the second bunker, where the ground was already set with moist rich soil created from a combination of Wood, Earth and Water Releases. As per her original plan, she walked to the middle of the bunker where several plant saplings were already growing. The herb bushes growing at the far corner of the bunker were left alone for the moment.

One of the sapling growing in the center of the bunker was a Sage Wood, a special tree whose bark can be used to produce chakra paper, and its leaves were part of the components necessary to create chakra ink. The other was a banana plant and an apple tree sapling. It would take the trees years to reach their full growth, but with the Wood Release bloodline, Taylor could speed up the process. The only problem right now was her limited chakra reserves.

Taylor concentrated on the apple sapling. Her hands flickering into a Wood Release: Plant Enhancement technique. The technique took form without any flaws, moulding a large amount of her chakra pool into Wood element which sank into the apple sapling. The change was instantaneous.

The sapling burst into growth, thicker bark forming before her eyes. It grew taller, more leafy, with many branches spreading out from it. Then the sudden growth resides as the chakra poured into it was used up. The apple tree was now half grown. In its normal cycle, it would take another one to two years to reach its full growth and begin producing apples. With her Wood Release bloodline, Taylor could speed up the growth in seconds once her chakra pool refills in another hour or two.

Her first task for the day done, she retreated to the training bunker. Finding an empty space, she took out a few crumpled leaves she gathered from the walkway this morning, and settled down to begin training her chakra control, which would over time, indirectly increase her chakra pool.

Taijutsu exercises would be next, and Taylor was well on her way to learning Hashirama's self-created style of fist and leg movements. She was still trying to figure out the correct amounts of chakra to imbue in her hands and legs for each strikes though. But with her existing chakra control, she did not have to worry too much about destroying her hands and legs if she put too much chakra in them. Her current control still left much to be desired, but if she moderate her chakra carefully, she would be relatively safe.

With careful control, Taylor began the first chakra control exercise. The Academy style leaf floating is basically an exercise of floating leaves over any parts of her body in soft gentle rotation. Right now she was concentrating on focusing control in her palms to float the leaves.

Life was changing for her, and she was determined to become a ninja as powerful as Hashirama, because even though she might be exasperated by her past self at times, she was forever grateful for the opportunity Hashirama had given her.

Deep within Taylor's consciousness, Hashirama gave a smile as he felt the determination in his current reincarnation. Whether Taylor truly knew it or not, their soul was bound for greatness, especially considering the destinies Fate had woven for all of their previous past lives. If the past cycles of their soul were any indications, Taylor was going to be one of the key pivotal points affecting her world or the fate of those around her.

OoooO

Aisha looked doubtfully at the stack of money her older brother had pressed into her hands.

"It's just some spending money. I am sure you need to buy stuff during the holidays." Brian was saying as they browsed the busy street market that was set up in a corner of the Broadwalk. Commonly known as the Lord Street Market, it was a place where street vendors rent stalls to host their wares. The prices of goods were cheaper here, but on the flip side, there was less security around these parts.

"You just give me like five hundred dollars in cash. You gave me more than that in all for the past weeks." Aisha hissed at her brother, even as she quickly stuffed the money into her wallet, hiding the money from sight. With the numbers of gang members and pickpockets in Brockton Bay, it was common sense not to flaunt that much money in plain sight. "What is going on? What did you do? Rob a bank?"

"Just some part time jobs I have been doing." Brian said evasively. "It pays well."

Aisha bit her lips in worry. Brian had changed… after what happened with mom's bastard boyfriend four months ago. She managed to lock herself in her room after the asshole had tried to molest her. In her panic she had texted Brian for help instead of calling the police.

Brian had rushed over, beaten up that sicko, and gotten her out of her room. The police and social services had arrived after that. Her father was infuriated after learning what happened and made a scene at the police station trying to enter the cells to beat that disgusting man up.

Things had been chaotic for a while. Aisha's custody was passed to her dad who tried his best but the old man's bursts of temper could be terrifying. That was a key reason Brian stopped staying with their father after he reached fifteen years of age, preferring to take up part time jobs to pay for a small apartment of his own. But there was no way Aisha could live with Brian, especially with social services on her case.

Aisha knew Brian had changed after that incident. She knew that her brother had tried contesting the rights of her custody from both their parents whom Brian considered to be not fit for parenthood. But a seventeen year old high school drop out with sporadic part time jobs did not hold much weight with government blue collars. Aisha did manage to see her brother more regularly now, as he went out of his way to meet her three times a week, to make sure she was alright back at their dad's place.

"Well if you are sure. Thanks for the extra cash." Aisha said, giving in. She wanted to push more, find out what job Brian had taken up now, if it was anything illegal, but with how tight lipped Brian was, she doubted that she would get any answers.

"No problem, just don't spend all of it in one shot." Brian said with a rare smile. "It might take me a while to get another job."

"Don't worry I wouldn't." Aisha said as they made their way to a clothing stall. "With how much dad spends on his drinks, I will be lucky to have enough money for dinner next week."

Brian frowned at her words. "Aisha… if dad's in one of his moods again, call me immediately ok? I will drop everything and come."

"You know dad will never hit me, even when he's drunk." Aisha said dismissively. "He just shouts a lot, I can take that."

The two of them walked in awkward silence as Aisha began browsing for some skirts, her old clothing were beginning to be worn out. She had not had a wardrobe change for a while. She was eyeing a nice denim piece when Brian suddenly stiffened, before turning to Aisha.

"I just saw some people I know. I need to go speak with them. You alright on your own for a while?" Brian asked. Aisha looked up, turning to see what had Brian so distracted. She frowned when she saw two men in suits standing in the distance, dressed like one of the private security guards patrolling the high end shops in the Broadwalk, looking back at her brother. Aisha thought she saw a brief look of anger and fear crossed Brian's face but it was gone in an instant.

"Yeah sure I will be fine." Aisha said her brows knotted with worry. Brian gave a nod and quickly made his way through the crowd, to those two men. Wondering what her brother had gotten himself into, Aisha discreetly left the booth she was browsing. Trying not to let Brian know she was following him, she made a detour before mingling with the crowd to try to get towards where she last saw Brian.

She lost sight of Brian and the two men however. They must have walked off somewhere, because by the time she reached where they last stood, there was no one there. There were two alleys in that avenue, did they enter one of them? With a shrug, Aisha picked the one on the left and entered it. It did not take her long to realise the alley was empty and led to the docks, the bad part of the town.

"Okay, wrong turn." Aisha muttered to herself, quickly turning around to walk back to Lord Street before she ended up in a situation she might not be able to get out of. She paused when she saw that three muscled and tattooed teenagers had entered the alley behind her. Her heart clenched as she saw the markings of Empire-Eighty-Eight on their biceps. Oh god… of all people, why did she had to end up in an alley with those Nazi white supremacists gang members?

"Oh look, a black chick trying to enter our territory." One of the guy sneered as the other two sniggered.

"Look I am sorry, I didn't know this alley led to your territory." Aisha said, keeping her head down as she tried to walk past the three gang members to the alley entrance. She gasped as one of them grabbed her and slammed her against the wall roughly.

"Oh she talks back." A blond haired gang member said, digging his fingers painfully into her shoulders. "Probably thinks she is better than us."

"She should really know her place." One of his partner agreed. "Let's teach her a lesson."

Aisha began to struggle desperately. She needed to get free. She had an idea of what those three wanted to do to her especially when the one holding her tried to rip her shirt off. But she had learnt some tricks after nearly being molested the first time. Her hands inched towards the penknife in her pocket, if she could reach it…

There was a meaty thump, as something smashed into the head of the one holding her. The gang member gave a strangled cry as he collapsed bonelessly in front of Aisha, seemingly knocked out. Aisha blinked in surprise as she saw that her saviour was a furious looking white girl around her age.

The girl was tall and lanky, with long red hair, and blue eyes, but she hardly seemed strong enough to be able to knock out a physically stronger guy even though she might have caught him by surprise. Her slightly broken nose did give her a certain rugged look, if not for the broken shape of her nose, the girl might actually be pretty.

"You bitch!" The two remaining gang members cried out. One took out a wicked looking switchblade that gang members like to use. While the second took out a gun.

The girl dropped a package she was holding in her right hand, quickly ducking to the side to avoid a gun shot. She skipped back to avoid a knife slash from the second gang member and quickly lashed out a powerful kick that actually lifted the gang member bodily into the air, smashing him into the wall, knocking him out as well.

Aisha's eyes widened. There was no way that the skinny girl had enough strength to actually deliver a kick that powerful not within the realms of possibility, which meant that the girl must be a…

"Cape!" The gun trotting member said in shock, staring at the girl who quickly picked up a stone and threw it at him. He was barely fast enough to avoid the thrown rock which impacted on the pavement before him with a sharp crack. There was a small impact crater where the rock had struck and the rock itself had shattered to pieces. The gang member froze, before quickly running off towards the other end of the alley.

"Are you alright?" The girl asked, relaxing a little now that the threat was gone. She retrieved her package and walked back to where Aisha was still leaning against the wall, her legs feeling remarkably wobbly.

"I… I am fine. I think so." Aisha managed, trying to get her nerves under control. "Thank you for helping me… oh no! Those three have seen your face! I am so sorry! Now you might get into trouble with the Empire Eight-Eight capes!"

There was a twinge of nervousness on the girl's face which quickly disappeared. "Don't worry about that, I can take care of myself…"

Whatever the girl was going to say next was interrupted by a familiar voice crying out her name.

"Aisha!" Brian called out as he ran into the alley. His eyes were wide as he saw the two gang members lying unconscious in front of Aisha and the girl that had saved her. Aisha could see anger blazed in Brian's eyes as he took in her dishevelled and slightly panicky state. "Oh god Aisha! What happened? Did those bastards do anything to you?"

"No, no, I am fine Brian." Aisha said pulling away from her brother's grasp, as he pushed the girl cape aside in his rush to get to her. "She saved me. They were… there were three of them and they were going to teach me a lesson… and she scared them all away."

Brian paused, looking incredulously at the skinny girl standing behind him. "You saved my sister from three gang members?"

"I know some material arts, and managed to catch them unaware." The girl said simply. "The last one ran away when he saw two of his friends were already knocked out."

"That must have been some martial arts." Brian commented as he eyed the large bruise forming on the face of the gang member slumped unconscious near Aisha. He looked at the second knocked out gang member across the alley, the wicked looking switchblade lying next to his feet.

Aisha wanted to tell Brian that the girl was actually a cape, but that was not her secret to tell. She might be only thirteen, but she knew enough about the cape scene to know that cape identities were highly private. She did not want to anger the cape that just rescued her, by revealing her secrets.

"I am Aisha Laborn, and my brother is Brian." Aisha rummaging in her pockets. The only paper she had on her was a shopping receipt. Quickly taking out the receipt from her pocket as well as a pen, she wrote down her number. "This is my number in case erm… you want to meet or something. I want to treat you to dinner for saving me."

"I will consider it." The girl said accepting the receipt with Aisha's number. "I need to go now. The two of you should get out of here too before those two wakes up, or the one that ran off came back with more help."

Aisha nodded as she watched the girl quickly walked back to the alley entrance.

"She's pretty stuck up isn't she?" Brian commented as he walked Aisha back to the entrance. "She might have saved you, but she didn't even give her name."

"I am sure she must have forgotten it in all the… chaos." Aisha said, knowing that the cape was most probably protecting her identity. "I hope she calls, she seemed like a pretty cool person to hang out with…"

OoooO

Locking the door securely behind her after making sure no one had followed her home, Taylor finally gave in to the adrenaline pumping through her body. A trip to the marketplace had escalated into something out of her control, especially after she saw a young dark skinned girl wandering into a side alley to the docks, with three Empire Eighty-Eight gang members following soon after.

A gut feeling had gotten her to walk into the alley after them, where she found the three gang members accosting the young girl. At least Taylor did have enough presence of mind to use the _Transformation_ technique on herself, altering her physical appearance, before she inserted herself in the fight to save the girl.

Unfortunately, she did not have much control over the _Transformation_ technique. Even though the chakra technique was considered one of the Ninja Academy Basic, and Hashirama had drilled the theory of the technique into her during the journey through the soul tunnel, true mastery of the skill required lots of imagination, pre-planning and testing of the physical change, practice, chakra control and manipulation.

Taylor could barely managed to change her hair, she knew because she saw her thick locks turning from black to red instead of the blond she envisioned. She also tried changing her eye colour, as well as made slight shifts to her facial features, but without a mirror, she had no idea how successful the changes were. Her attempts at creating a mask for her face or even changing her clothes apparently failed, judging by the fact that her clothes were the same and no mask had covered her face.

She did not exactly have time to check if other than her hair colour, whether any of the other transfromations took hold, before things went south and she had to jump in to save the girl. She could have taken more time to attempt the _Transformation_ technique a few times to ensure its success, but with time running out, Taylor had instead taken a risk.

The rescue was short and chaotic, Taylor barely remembered what she did. She had been running on instinct and adrenaline during the surprisingly brief scuffle. After the three gang members were beaten and chased away, she had made her escape at the first opportunity. She managed to sneak into a nearby toilet to check her appearance in a mirror and discovered that the _Transformation_ technique did work… partially.

Her hair and eye colour were different. Her face was narrower, with a sharper chin, there were faint stretch marks on the left side of her face as though the portion affected was drier. Her nose was obviously broken, and her lips were smaller, like the lips of an Asian girl. All in all, the person standing before the mirror seemed like a distant cousin of Taylor. They had some similar features, but were obviously different.

The _Transformation_ technique she used on herself was not perfect, but at least Taylor did not have to worry that she might have ousted her real face to those Empire Eighty-Eight gang members as a cape. She had quickly dispelled that transformation, and spent some time to overlay a more powerful and complete _Transformation_ technique just to be cautious in case anyone followed her.

It took seven attempts for her to make significant alterations to her physical shape and clothing. When she walked out of the toilet, she had the appearance of a dark skinned, busty middle age woman with curly brown hair, blue eyes, and wearing a Pokka dot dress. She had quickly made her way home after that. All in all, it was a hell of an ordeal for her very first fight using her powers.

Hashirama however was in approval over her actions. _You pulled off some pretty impressive chakra punches and kicks just now. Your chakra control still needed work however. You pooled too much chakra into your fist during your first punch, which is why your whole hand is going to be bruised for the next few days. There's going to be deep tissue chakra burns. The chakra enhanced kick however is much more efficient, almost perfect in execution._

"At least my leg isn't going to drop off just because I saved someone." Taylor grumbled aloud as she made her way to the fridge. She need to get some ice for her right palm which was already showing dark red bruising. The dull ache coming from it was making her twinge physically. "Injuring my hand is bad enough."

_You did a good thing today Taylor_. Hashirama continued. _The police of your city should be ashamed of themselves, to let things go so bad, that gang members could go about with their threats in parts of the city. If this was Konoha, the police force would have already caught and jailed those three. Konoha was one of the safest ninja village during my time for a reason._

"Yes well good deed or not, I don't think I am going to play hero to anyone else until I have more practice over chakra manipulation, and have designed a proper costume for myself. Anyway, it isn't fair to compare Brockton Bay's police to Konoha's police. Your police force are _all_ powerful ninjas. A squad of them can probably take down any of the parahuman gangs here." Taylor said as she prepared an ice pack for her right hand. It took her several moments to arrange the pack with one working hand.

Taylor wrinkled her forehead as she worked. "And before I can make a proper costume, I need more funds, which means I need to jumpstart our idea to sell plant produce in Lord Street Market. I have three hundred and forty dollars in saving. I checked today, a stall rental down at the marketplace cost a ninety dollars a day. I have enough funds to book a stall for three days, and hope I will make enough profits during then to begin my plant trading business."

_You can try selling spices, not just food crops._ Hashirama suggested. _Spices, rare plant poisons, healing herbs and chakra enhanced plants tend to be worth their weight in gold back in my world. Luxury plants like cotton are good too, though there were other plants products that could sell more in my world._

"I will try your idea with spices." Taylor agreed. "Saffron in particular if I can get a sample, it is one of the most expensive spice I know. Pity that the plant doesn't exist in your world though. The rest of the plants from your world though… I can't really sell them without having their origins traced back to me. As for cotton or any of the so call luxury plants, I think there's a market for them here, but only to the manufacturers. I can consider them in future when I know the industries in my world better."

_If you can't sell the actual plant, how about selling the poison or medicine they produced. _Hashirama asked, his mental tone sounding smug. _I used to be considered one of the best medical ninja of my generation, though most of my skills lies in the battlefield. I am pretty good with extracting and creating poisons and healing salves due to my understanding of plant life. And I came up with quite a number of original recipes in my lifetime._

"I guess I could sell the healing salves as traditional/ herbal medicines." Taylor said in agreement as she checked the awkward bindings around her right hand. "Maybe I can even create some wood furniture to supplement the sales. Hand crafted wood furniture are going for a lot these days, and the few chairs and tables I created with the Wood Release bloodline certainly seemed passable enough for high quality hand crafted work."

_Ah you are beginning to think outside the horizon my little apprentice!_ Hashirama said in delight. _Maybe in time you will even have the chakra and skill to go into construction. I do have a Wood Release technique to construct wooden buildings. One of my finest and most useful techniques to date, especially vital when you are stuck in a month long war campaign out in the desert, forest, or swamp. I will teach it to you one day when you are ready for it._

"Building houses with chakra sounds incredible, but I don't think I am going to war anytime soon or anytime _at all_. Not to mention in a city landscape, how am I supposed to hide the fact that I built a wooden house instantly with chakra?" Taylor said dryly. "Anyway, with my hand all bandaged up, I guess we have to skip the Ninjutsu practice for the afternoon. I don't exactly have two hands to make handseals. What should we do instead? More chakra control exercises?"

_Let's continue with Fūinjutsu, it is about time you learn how to create storage seals. Storage seals are one of the most common set of seal arrays produced by Seal masters. _Hashirama decided. _It can allow you to store large amounts of goods within a seal array. I have seen some ninjas make very creative uses of storage seals during battle. Those tricks might prove useful to you if you are ever caught in a difficult situation. Especially since with your currently limited chakra and skill, you can't just overwhelm your enemies with Ninjutsu like I usually did back home…_

OoooO

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** Topic: Empire Eight-Eight up in arms! New cape alert!**

**In: Boards **►** Places **►** America **►** Brockton Bay **

► **BBObserver **(Original Poster)

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2200hrs

Just got news from my bro in the Merchants. Apparently Empire Eighty-Eight is up in arms after an unknown female cape roughed up two of their gang members in broad day light while _unmasked_! Apparently the gang members tried to have some fun with a black chick when the cape stepped in.

She is probably some kind of Brute because she allegedly knocked out the two gang members barehanded. Empire Eight-Eight is trying to track down that cape. It is going to be a sorry affair when they caught up with her.

► **Picachu60**

Posted on June 12th, 2010: 2210hrs

WTF?! Is the cape new to the scene? Why didn't she at least cover her face before she step in to save the day?

► **SexyBlonde**

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2211hrs

That poor girl, she wouldn't last long with all of Empire Eighty-Eight's cape looking for her.

**BBObserver **(Original Poster)

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2212hrs

According to the poster my bro got his hands on, the cape is ***** comment deleted *****. With how detailed the description was, it wouldn't be long to track her down.

***This user has received a 3-days ban for inciting criminal and/or reckless behaviour in endangering a cape's identity. Brockton Bay's Protectorate had been contacted of this matter. Do not do it again.***

**-Tin Mother**

► **Picachu60**

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2213hrs

Holy shit! The poor girl. Didn't she learn the important history lesson about Brockton Bay Brigade? She's going to end up dead like most of them pretty soon.

► **AuzzieBoy**

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2215hrs

Who the hell, or what the hell is the Brockton Bay Brigade?

► **SexyBlonde**

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2216hrs

The Parahuman wiki exists for a reason. Just search for it.

► **LoneCowboy**

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2216hrs

They are a disbanded group of parahuman family. They tried to start a movement by unmasking their own identities, renaming their group as New Wave, trying to promote the idea that Heroes should not hide their identities. Needless to say, things didn't end well. One of them was murdered in her civilian identity, the group disbanded not long after, but they got back together recently. At least they have a strong enough reputation now that most villains just leave them alone.

► **AuzzieBoy**

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2217hrs

Oh! Now I know! I have pictures of Glory Girl from New Wave since her first appearance in March 2009!

► **SexyBlonde**

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2216hrs

Apparently you only collect her photos instead of learning about her family history!

► **AuzzieBoy**

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2217hrs

Guilty as charged =p

► **TrekkieHero**

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2220hrs

Not to derail the thread, but shouldn't the Protectorate step in by now? Empire Eighty-Eight is going after a cape in her civilian identity. Isn't that against some kind of cape law?

► **Battery **(Verified Cape)

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2222hrs

Tin Mother and I have already alerted the Protectorate. But to answer your question, there's a cape law to ensure the privacy of a cape, but none that directly protects a cape once his/ her civilian cover is blown.

I will like to ask those in the forum NOT to post any details of this cape's appearance publicly. Just PM me or the Protectorate the details if you have any.

A cape's life is at stake. Please be responsible.

► **Picachu60**

Posted on June 13th, 2010: 2223hrs

Battery! Nice to see the Protectorate is on the ball with this. Hopefully the Protectorate can find this new cape before it is too late for her.

***** **Brockton Bay's Protectorate had acquired a court order to lock this thread in accordance to Parahuman Law Code 54, Cape Privacy Law. If you have any information about the unidentified cape, please PM Brockton Bay's Protectorate directly. Any other similar threads in this forum will also be locked.***

**-Tin Mother**

In his small rundown apartment, Brian numbly stared at the old computer monitor that was showing the forum thread. The events of the afternoon was still fresh in his mind. It did not take him long to deduce that Empire Eighty-Eight was after the girl who had saved his sister from those gang members earlier in the day.

He did have his suspicious when he arrived at the scene to find two muscled gang members lying unconscious in the dirt, with a skinny blue eyed red head supposedly having beaten them up. Aisha must have been protecting the cape because she made no mention of the girl being a parahuman when he brought Aisha back to his father's place.

Aisha would probably be in danger by association, but the more immediate danger would be heading in the female cape's direction. She risked her identify to save his sister, but there was not much Brian could do for her right now. He could only start planning how to keep his sister safe.

A strip of paper containing a phone number was clenched in his fist. It had been given to him earlier today, by two well-dressed goons who had been following him around for days. They had apparently discovered his civilian and cape identity after he committed a few small time burglaries around town.

Brian had triggered four months ago, when he was beating up that disgusting shit of a man who had molested Aisha. When he realised he had parahuman powers a few days later, his first thought had been how to make money off it. His ability to generate clouds of darkness which had the side effect of muffling some electronics had led him to committing small time robberies for quick cash.

He had been spotted a few times, but since he had a helmet and costume on, he was just another two bit villain in Brockton Bay that was still unknown and unidentified. However, he must have slipped up somehow because the two goons he met today had told him their Boss knew of his "special skills" and would like to hire him.

Brian had been putting off calling the "Boss". He had been quite content with how much he made off the sporadic robberies. He had no desire to get caught up in something much bigger than he could handle. But with things as they were now, he had to consider other revenues for more resources if he was to keep Aisha away from Empire Eighty-Eight's attention.

He got his phone and dialled the number. There was a short ring before it was picked up. A firm male voice sounded over the phone. "So Mr. Laborn, I presume you are interested in my offer to hire you?"

"I want to know who you are, how much you will be paying me, and what kind of jobs you will need me to do. " Brian stated firmly in a surprisingly calm voice, though his heart was racing.

"You may call me the Benefactor. I am looking to fund a small team of parahumans for several jobs involving theft and robberies, something I am sure you are familiar with." The man sounded amused. "Should you accept, I will provide you with a monthly stipend of three thousand dollars, not including any mission pays that would be given to you for any tasks I needed you to complete."

"I am also aware of your efforts in getting custody of your sister. I can help you with that, provided you work for me." The Benefactor said, shocking Brian with what the strange man knew.

"What… what do you mean you can help with my sister's custody?" Brian asked, swallowing dryly.

"The monthly stipend and any mission pay would be transferred to you through a legal company. You will also receive a glowing commendation from the company's manager, once you saved up enough, is old enough, and have enough solid backing to begin your custody law suit." The Benefactor replied. "I can provide you with a stable income and financial background which social services can find no fault with. I can even provide support for your custody trials once you are ready for it."

"You can do that?" Brian asked in surprise. "But why? What do you need to gather a parahuman team for?"

"Consider this… a small hobby of mine. I am quite wealthy, and keeping a parahuman team seems quite a fad." The Benefactor said in amusement. "Rest assured none of the missions would be life threatening, just simple robbery heists within your control. You will have the right to accept or reject any missions. Rest assured nothing will happen to you if you refuse. There might not even be missions for months. Whatever the case, once you sign up with me, I will pay you the monthly stipend, regardless of what happened."

"The offer… sounds quite incredible." Brian managed as he went through the terms that was offered in his head. Whoever the Benefactor was, he seemed like an eccentric rich man. "But why are you funding what seems to be a villain cape team instead of a hero cape team? If you are building a team for the reputation, I would have thought most people would go for the white coats."

"Let's just say funding my own team of small time cape villains, is my part in keeping the Heroes of Brockton Bay on their toes if things seemed calm, and not let them lose their edge." The Benefactor said with a dark chuckle. "Consider it my contribution to preventing the Heroes from getting complacent. The team I will be forming is made for stealth and speed. I will not be requesting any of you to engage in cape fights unless necessary. As an additional offer, you can leave the team anytime, no obligations."

"I… the deal sounds good." Brian said, biting his lips nervously. "I will take it, on one more condition. I want my sister to be transferred to a safer school with less gang member activities. The neighbourhood school she's in right now has a lot of ruffians from ABB and Empire Eighty-Eight. Can you… can you fulfil this request for me if I work for you?"

"That can be easily done. Getting entry into Arcadia will be difficult, a better choice will be Winslow High." The Benefactor said simply. "Winslow High is considered quite safe from gang activities especially with the rumours that a ward is studying there. I can get your sister into the school quite easily."

"Thank you." Brian said, a weight rolling off his shoulder. With Aisha in a relatively safe school, there would be lesser chance for the Empire Eighty-Eight gang members to find her when school started. He would have to tell his sister to lay low for the holidays.

"Now that we are in agreement, I will wire the stipend for the first month into your account. One of my… assistant will also drop by in the morning to give you a key for your new apartment." The Benefactor stated simply. "I can't have my retainer staying in a dump after all…"


	3. Chapter 3

**Story Title: Village Hidden in the Bay**

**Crossover:** Worm/ Naruto

**Disclaimer:** This is a fanfiction. No profit is made from the story. Just a fan's way of keeping the fandoms alive.

**Summary:** She was destined to be the saviour of her world. She was the fated antihero, coming into power on Jan 2011. Yet webs of fate could be altered. Realities away, a forbidden technique was used, and the web of destiny… was shattered.

**Chapter Three – Trade and Profit**

_Reality 8757-A41, Brockton Bay, 21st June 2010_

In many ways, the Lord Street Market was like a year long bazaar happening in Brockton Bay's downtown area. Rent was cheap and the market was competitive. Yet those who found the right niche could prosper, making enough that they might even have enough profits to open an actual shop in the Broadwalk.

Even with Brockton Bay's infamous reputation as a cape heavy city, or perhaps it was due to that reputation, there was always a constant influx of tourists even after the shipping industry died. Brockton Bay's weather was mild throughout the year, and summer was the peak tourist season as many came to the city to escape the heat, and maybe get a little sense of thrill from being in "close quarters" with superpowered humans, staying within a city populated by known villain capes and Heroes.

As a result, Brockton Bay's main commerce was the tourist trade, and because of that goods from all over the world could be found in the city's Broadwalk and Lord Street Market. Lord Street Market further encourage this diversity by having a flexible rental agreement. Someone with the money could easily rent a stall for a few days or weeks in Lord Street Market with no other obligations.

Before Brockton Bay's shipping industry died, the stretch of property around Lord Street Market was owned by a shipping magnate. The property was then foreclosed by Brockton Bay's Central Bank after the shipping magnate lost billions of his wealth. The wise business acumen of the Central Bank's Chairman, the late Raymond Christner, also the father of the city's current Mayor, Roy Christner, was what turned Lord Street Market into what it was today. A foreclosed property became one of the Bank's main cash flow assets.

The Lord Street Market consists of shop houses which operates on monthly/ yearly rental basis, and the cheaper road side stalls which had a more flexible rental arrangement. The road side stalls were basically cheaply constructed lean-tos, with lockable metal shutters to protect the goods at night. Martin Lewis, was a mid-level clerk at the Central Bank, and part of his daily duties was to oversee the side stalls' rental arrangements.

As per his schedule, every morning he would talk a quick walk around Lord Street Market, to make sure the old and new stall owners did not break any of the clauses of rental agreements, such as selling contraband items or restricted items that should not be found openly on the streets.

A pair of the market's security detail would follow after him to ensure his safety. Though the security in Lord Street Market was not top of the line like Broadwalk, it was safe enough that that someone could walk around without fear of being robbed.

Having been in the job for the past one and a half years, Martin had seen all sorts of vendors and goods passed through Lord Street Market. It was rare that the display of wares from a stall would make him pause for a second look. The side stall right at the west corner of Lord Street Market did just that.

"Oh my… this rosewood table is exquisite." Martin said pausing at the stall to take a look. The stall owner was a new face in the market, a willowy blond with supermodel curves and looks. Martin remembered signing a three day stall contract with her back at the bank two days ago. Martin could still remember her name because it was not everyday a gorgeous twenty year old decided to rent a stall in Lord Street Market.

"Ah yes, my cousin is a carpenter, he made that for me." Ms. Roberts smiled prettily, dimples flashing in her cheeks.

"I see you decided not to use the stall table provided to you for your goods." Martin said as he gave a cursory browse of the goods Ms. Helena Roberts had displayed on the finely made table. The provided stall table was still folded and leaning against the back walls of the stall.

"Ah yes this table just seemed nicer." Ms. Roberts said even as she busied herself with the arrangement of her wares. The morning was just starting, and the morning crowd would begin trickling in within the hour. "I had to hire some help getting my stuff here but it was worth it."

The right of the table was occupied with stacks of beautifully crafted wooden bottles. Wordings were engraved into the wood of the bottles indicating that they contained certain spices. Martin saw bottles of pepper, saffron, nutmeg, curry powder and ginger slices, with prices ranging from cheap to expensive. If Ms. Roberts could even sell half of her displayed spices for the day, she would be well on her way to netting a tidy profit.

The middle of the table was stacked with baskets of fresh fruits such as blueberries, peaches, raspberries, strawberries and rose apples. The fruits were slightly plumper than their average counterparts Martin had seen in the local supermarts, with brighter colours and healthier appearances, looking tantalizingly wholesome.

A smaller section of the table to the left was stacked with wooden bottles containing traditional medicines of some kind, lotions and sweet oils. There was also stacks of sweet smelling incense sticks bind into attractive bundles. Two large covered wooden crates behind Ms. Roberts showed that she had more goods stocked up.

There was also a tiny rosewood coffee table placed next to the larger table. It contained a stack of thin brochures containing pictures of beautifully crafted rosewood furniture pieces. The prices listed for each pieces seemed cheap when compared to market prices. Martin took one, noting that Ms. Roberts' email was listed as the sales contact. The enterprising young woman apparently accepts furniture orders as well, most probably for her carpenter cousin.

"You have a nice selection of goods, Ms. Roberts, I wish you well for your business today." Martin said, tipping his hat smartly at the young stall owner who smiled at him.

"Thank you, Mr. Lewis." Ms. Roberts said. She was about to say more but was interrupted when her first customers, an obviously out of town couple, arrived at the stall, looking at the fruits. Giving Martin an apologetic smile, Ms. Roberts turned her attention to the couple as Martin continued his way.

He would drop by tomorrow on his rounds, and maybe buy some fruits and spices just to support the young lady. He did wonder if Ms. Roberts was still single. If she was attached… well as long as she was not yet married, he might still have a chance at hooking up with the sweet young thing.

OoooO

_Reality 8757-A41, Brockton Bay, 21st June 2010_

When she began planning to set up a stall at Lord Street Market, Taylor had decided that she needed a more mature looking persona to be the "Stall Owner". With the _Transformation_ technique, she could basically change into the appearance of anyone or almost anything, pending time, practice and chakra.

Her own vanity had caused her to choose a supermodel appearance that was a cross between Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore. After being plain and awkward Taylor for most of her life, she wanted to have the chance to feel pretty and confident. It had taken her five days to get the appearance right, and another two days for her to get in enough practice that she could hold onto the transformation for most of the day.

As the _Transformation_ technique affects anything on her body, it had been easy enough to transform her ID to show the fake details of her "Stall Owner" persona. Helena Roberts, age 20, had thus signed a contract with Central Bank, passing their cursory ID check, and ended up leasing a stall on Lord Street Market for three days.

It had taken her eight days to fully plan and prepare the necessary goods before beforehand. Most of the spices, fruits and wood related furniture could be easily grown within a day or two but medicine, lotions, sweet oils, incense and some of the more labour intense spices needed a lot more time to prepare, even though she could rapidly reproduce the plant materials.

Once everything was prepared, chakra paper had been used to draw storage seals, allowing the goods to be stored within. At the first morning of her business day, Taylor had arrived in her rented stall as Helena Roberts. Behind the closed shutters of the rental stall, Taylor had released the first batch of her goods. Should any of her goods run low, she could always close the shutters and release or create more goods behind a screen of anonymity.

The careful planning she had done with help from Hashirama, had come to fruition. By mid-day, she was doing a brisk sale of fruits and spices, with several furniture orders. She had to refill her presentable wares three times during the morning rush hour, and just from fruits and spices sales alone, she had already netted seven hundred and thirty three dollars in profits.

Of course several hours into her new business, Taylor was beginning to realise that looking too pretty had its own disadvantage. Her stall attracted a lot of unnerving male gawkers that were just "browsing" the goods. The stocky looking pet seller from across the street had been leering at her. And Taylor was starting to feel that her appearance was attracting too much attention.

_You aren't the first civilian girl I have seen, that used the Transformation technique to create a more beautiful appearance._ Hashirama remarked during a short lull in business. _Most civilians living in ninja villages knew at least one of the Academic Three. And the most common Academic Three used by civilians is the Transformation technique. The mistresses of the Fire Lord were well known for their mastery in using the Transformation technique to beautify their appearances._

_So… you are comparing me to the high end prostitutes of your world... Thanks a lot teacher. _Taylor said sarcastically in her mind. _But from your memories, it seems everyone in your world can use chakra?_

_No, not everyone, but by my generation, a large number of people in the Elemental nations possess a working chakra system. Old legends did record a period of time when the people of my world cannot use chakra._ Hashirama said in answer to Taylor's question. _The First Ninja, the Sage of Six Paths, from which the Senju and Uchiha clans were rumoured to be descended from, found a way to grant chakra systems to ordinary people. As chakra systems are hereditary, with time the descendants of those with chakra systems were born with active chakra systems. _

Hashirama's voice took on a slightly lecturing tone. _As for those with no working chakra systems, there is an ancient set of Seal arrays, which according to legends, was passed down by the Sage of Six Paths. The arrays could grant ordinary civilians their own chakra systems. The process is expensive in chakra ink and lengthy in procedure, but it is the only way to grant ordinary people chakra manipulation ability._

_So you know the seal arrays necessary to grant the people of my world their own chakra systems?_ Taylor asked perking up at the information. It was close to mid-afternoon and the crowd was thinning under the hot sun. She shot an evil eye at the stocky pet vendor across the street, the man had been leering openly at her for the past five minutes.

_Yes, I know of the seals needed._ Hashirama affirmed. _But the process will take several hours at the very least._

_That's considerably longer than the time I took to get my own chakra system._ Taylor replied mentally in surprise.

_That's because your chakra system is soul imprinted into your physical body, not created through seal arrays._ Hashirama replied idly. _You and I are one soul, one body. Because I have awakened, I am able to imprint a portion of my past life's essence into your current body. Soul imprint of chakra system is unlike creating chakra systems through seals which… By the Sage, what is that awful noise?_

Taylor lifted her head at Hashirama's words, giving a snort of exasperation as she stared across the street where the pet vendor was struggling with a dog in a cage. The dog had somehow managed to bite onto his trousers and refused to let go. The pet vendor's struggle caused a few other cages to be knocked against each other, and the wails of panicking animals sounded out from his stall.

_It's that pervert from across the street._ Taylor said staring disinterestedly at the commotion. _God, the cages he kept those animals in are so small, it is no wonder they are all rebelling._

_If the Inuzuka Clan is here right now, all of the clan members will be fraying that man for the poor conditions he is keeping his animals in. _Hashirama said with a bit of heat. _The clan might even set their ninja dogs on that man, and those ninja dogs aren't nothing to joke about._

Taylor shuffled uncomfortably. She felt sorry for the animals as well, but there was not much she could do. The animals belonged to the pet vendor, and it was not as though she was rich enough to buy all of them and set them free. But the sight of them trapped in their small cages and being cowed by the pet vendor, remained Taylor too keenly of how she felt about being bullied by Sophia, Emma and Madison back in school.

Taylor got up, making moves to close the shutters to her stall. There was not much crowd right now, and she might as well spend some time doing a little good deed for the day.

_What are you doing?_ Hashirama asked curiously. Though the powerful ninja might take up residency at the back of her mind, Hashirama had agreed not to go poking around in her thoughts without cause. Unless Taylor told Hashirama what she thought or planned, the ninja would know nothing more than what she let on.

_I am going to pay a visit to one of the security guards around here somewhere._ Taylor replied, pushing the table with her wares back into the stall so that she could close the shutters. _I am going to get them to pass a message to Mr. Lewis, and get him to look into the poor conditions of the pet stall, which is creating a negative image of Lord Street Market. I am also going to strongly hint that I have seen tourists taking pictures of the stall. Pictures which might end up spreading bad publicity about the marketplace._

_Ah the art of court politics and subtle human manipulations. Mito tried teaching that to me. I never could quite get the hang of it. _Hashirama said sounding impressed at Taylor's proposed actions. _I prefer direct actions most of the time. I wonder if this… art of subtlety, is something all women instinctively acquire?_

_This isn't Konoha, and I am not the revered village founder and respected God of Shinobi._ Taylor said dryly. _This is Brockton Bay, and I am just a fourteen year old, that currently looks like a gorgeous twenty year old, who happens to be able to manipulate chakra. I can't bury my enemies under a sea of forest like you can. Neither do I have an army of powerful loyal subjects. We will do things my way here. I'd rather not land into any trouble that I can't get myself out of._

_Are you sure you know what you are doing though? _Hashirama pointed out as Taylor prepared to reach for the shutters. _Not to rain on you my little apprentice, but you are not exactly savvy court politician or manipulator material, even though you seem to know a bit of theory on that subject._

_I have watched enough spy movies._ Taylor said with a mental sniff. _I think I can try hamming it up a little, especially with my current looks._

Grabbing the shutter doors, Taylor was about to pull them shut when a series of wild, loud and horrifying barks sounded from the streets. Taylor swung around and could only stare in shock as three… monster dogs, the size of cars, barrelled into the streets from a side alley. The thin crowd of tourists and people at the marketplace scattered in surprised yells and cries as the three dogs ran towards the pet vendor's stall.

A brutish wild looking girl, most probably around Taylor's real age, was seated on the largest sized monster dog. The girl was most probably a cape of some sort, maybe a Master that can control dogs, with some sort of Striker or Trump ability to turn them into monsters. Of course the monsters dogs could also be some kind of Trump projections. With the strange varieties of superpowers out there these days, it was difficult to tell.

_Wow… I didn't know your world have anyone like the Inuzuka. _Hashirama said impressed as Taylor stood in front of her half closed stall, watching the dog cape sic a monster dog after the pet vendor who had taken off running the moment he saw the three car sized dogs coming for him. The rough looking female dog cape had then ordered the other two monster dogs to guard the stall while she went into the stall and began opening the cage doors of all the animals, setting them free.

The dog cape was particularly gentle with the caged dogs and puppies, taking care to gather the pet dogs she set free close to her. Taylor frowned when she saw some of the freed animals limping around. She cursed. _Some of the animals are hurt._ Taylor said angrily. _Especially those in the smaller back cages. That fucking inhuman man! I hope the monster dog that went after him actually got him._

Taylor could also sense Hashirama bristling in anger at the back of her mind._ Grab some of the healing and pain numbing ointments. They don't work as well on animals, but they help better than most animal medicines short of those actually brewed by the Inuzuka clan._ Hashirama ordered briskly.

It spoke of how much Taylor had changed in the past few days that she had immediately grabbed a large plastic bag and dumped stacks of healing and pain numbing ointments into it, not even daunted by the fact that she would be taking those ointments and going directly to where a rogue cape was lying waste to a stall. With the tricks up her sleeves and her transformed appearance shielding her identity, she could escape without outing herself if worse comes to worse.

The streets were cleared by then. The nearby stall owners had either ran or hid themselves within their stalls. The remaining crowd had done the same. Up at a street intersection, Taylor saw one of the market's security guard speaking into a walkie talkie, most probably calling for help. With the way things were in the world today, ordinary people knew better than to interfere with a rogue cape. Everyone was most probably waiting for the Protectorate to send some Heroes over.

Cutting across the street in quick strides, feeling the eyes of the remaining crowd hidden in the stalls staring at her, Taylor walked to the trashed pet stall staring calmly at the two monster dogs blocking the way. She stopped directly in front of them, ignoring their loud threatening growls and putrid breaths.

Hashirama was at the back of her mind observing the dogs for signs of aggressions, keeping Taylor aware of whether she should fight, run or stay. The man had been around large ninja dogs most of his life. The Inuzuka clan, a clan of ninjas that took care of large intelligent ninja dogs, had been a close ally of the Senju for generations. Of course the Inuzuka ninja dogs never reached the size of cars, except for the clan's dog summons which usually reached the towering heights of a building. Hashirama was confident that he could decipher the monster dogs' intention enough to keep Taylor safe.

"Some of the animals are hurt." Taylor called out. She could see the dog cape turning to look at her angrily from behind the monster dogs. "I have medicine to help them."

The dog cape snarled at her. Hashirama's discerning voice spoke within Taylor's head, his voice had gone all seriousness instead of his normal jovial and devil may care tone. _The girl is half feral. She seems more comfortable with dogs than people. I have only seen this kind of reaction in people who have lived in isolation out in the wilds for too long or were seriously traumatized. Just out of curiosity, these parahuman powers of your world, do they negatively impact on the mental and emotional states of the ones that got them?_

Taylor hesitated, she was not exactly a cape fanatic and encyclopaedia._ I am not sure. What I know about capes are the basic parahuman stuff from Parahuman history classes, online forums and the news._ _I know capes normally get their powers from traumatic trigger events. Of course it doesn't mean everyone who has gone through trauma will become a cape, only a select group of people actually activate powers. _

Taylor continued warily_. The scientists still couldn't figure out the exact parameters needed for trigger events. Because most cape get their powers through the worst points of their lives, the majority of them never fully recovered from their trauma. A lot of villains used their powers to hurt people due to the nature of their own trigger trauma. It is the most common theory online about why there are always more villain capes than heroes. _

There was a mental sigh as Hashirama considered Taylor's words, _I know I have been keeping you busy practising your Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Fūinjutsu the past few weeks, but I think it is about time we do more tactical research on the parahumans in your world._

Hashirama continued seriously while keeping a watch on the two monster dogs in front of Taylor. _If this city is chockfull of them, you will need to learn whatever flaws and strength they have, in order to better protect yourself if you encounter any of them. Having good intelligence will allow you to win half the battles most of the time._

_It is a little too late for research now._ Taylor said snippily as she waited before the two monster dogs tensely. _But I think I can slot in some library research time if I survived till tomorrow._

There was a short pause as the dog cape just continued staring angrily at Taylor, but the pained whines of a small puppy distracted her. The dog cape picked up the puppy, gingerly holding out one of its paws that was bruised, most probably from the confined space it was stuck in. The feral looking cape snarled in anger, before waving Taylor in, barking out some commands to her monster dogs.

"Come in." The girl cape ordered as the two monster dogs moved a little further down the road, giving Taylor more space to enter. The female cape glared at Taylor challengingly as she hold up the injured puppy. "You have medicine? Can help?"

Taylor nodded taking out one bottle of pain numbing ointment and another bottle of healing ointment. She then placed the bag on the floor and begin layering the sweet smelling ointments on the puppy's paw. The result was almost instantaneous on the small animal. The pain numbing ointment was strong enough to release the puppy from its discomfort as it nested tiredly into the dog cape's hands while Taylor applied healing ointment to the bruise.

Taylor was not that surprised about how effective her ointments were. With Hashirama's immerse plant repository and her Wood Release bloodline, Taylor had access to many potent herbs in Hashirama's world. The fact that Hashirama was in her head during the entire ointment brewing process meant that her supply of homemade medicine were of the best quality, maybe even trumping some medicines of her world which served similar functions.

"It helps." The girl cape said in surprise as Taylor finished layering the ointments.

"I make good medicine." Taylor said simply. She closed the two ointment bottles she used, placing them into the bag which she handed to the cape. "There are two kinds of ointments in the bag, pain numbing ointments and healing ointments, all clearly labelled. Use only a little spread of pain numbing ointments around wounds to numb the pain. Then apply the healing ointments directly on the wounds three times a day. You should go, the Protectorate would be here soon."

The brutish girl stared at her for a long moment before accepting the bag with one hand. "Thank you." The dog cape said gruffly, giving her a curt nod.

Then the dog cape totally ignored Taylor, as she took off an old jacket and gathered the smaller puppies into it, bundling them up and handing the bundle to one of the monster dogs that moved closer. The large dog held onto the bundle gently with its mouth. The dog cape then herd the group of freed dogs out of the stall, while giving a sharp whistle.

The monster dog who had been chasing after the pet vendor lumbered back from down the street, traces of blood around its jaw. Taylor frowned. She hoped the dog had not killed the pet vendor. The man was obnoxious, but he did not deserve death.

She stood watching from in front of the wrecked pet stall as the dog cape and her dogs disappeared into a nearby alley leading into the docks. There was a palpable sense of relief as the dog cape and her animals were gone from sight.

Before Taylor could even return to her stall, people were converging towards her, some asking her what happened between her and the cape, some commenting how brave she was. And in the background, the rest of the freed animals which had included cats and small monkeys left behind by the dog cape, began yowling in panic and frustration.

Rubbing her forehead tiredly, Taylor had a feeling her afternoon was going to stretch out into a long day.

OoooO

"... so there was still no signs of this new cape that Empire Eighty-Eight was after?" Battery asked as she got into the Protectorate for her night shift.

"Nope. Nothing on our radar. Empire Eighty-Eight hasn't been making any visible moves either. I think our girl has left town." The brown haired Robin Swoyer aka Velocity, said as he looked at her with concern. "You seemed heavily invested in finding this cape Battery. You going to be alright?"

"I was the one on the shift when Dragon contacted us about a new cape in town. A cape that was being hunted by one of our most notorious villain gang." Battery said with a sigh. "I guess I feel responsible in a way because of that. That's why I am trying to find this cape and make sure she didn't end up dead at Empire Eighty-Eight's hands."

"Sometimes you worry too much Jamie." Velocity said with a smile, letting Battery take over the control station for the Protectorate. "Where's Assault? Isn't he supposed to be on standby with you?"

"He is talking to Armsmaster, his armour needs some repair work." Battery said as she opened up the parahuman forums and began monitoring the call logs for the night.

Velocity snorted. "He is going to have to wait in line, Armsmaster got into a skirmish with Skidmark and Squealer this afternoon. Nothing major, but the two meth heads accidentally got in a lucky hit and damaged part of Armsmaster's armoured legs. The man's been in a real mood the whole afternoon."

"Armsmaster got into a fight with The Merchants?" Battery asked in surprise. "I didn't hear anything on the news while coming in. What did The Merchants do this time? Sell drugs openly on the streets? Or did Squealer construct yet another crazy vehicle to let her goons use?"

"Hmm… it is a little more embarrassing than that." Velocity said with a chuckle. He moved forward, taking over the control screen for a moment as he called up some files. "Armsmaster was on afternoon patrol, and he was near Lord Street Market when we receive a call about an unidentified cape causing a disturbance there. From eye witness reports, we deduct the cape is Bitch aka Hellhound aka Rachel Lindt. She has arrived in town recently and is wanted for a manslaughter charge."

Battery looked at the files Velocity had called up. They were basically information the Protectorate had on Rachel Lindt. "Yeah, I saw the news featuring her rampage through Lord Street Market. She has the ability to enhance dogs, classified Striker 4-5, possible Master or Thinker to be further determined. She doesn't seems too dangerous, and I don't understand how her situation would lead to Armsmaster fighting The Merchants?"

"She fled before Armsmaster arrived." Velocity said with a grin. "Didn't do much damage except have one of her dogs chew on a pet stall owner. The owner's injuries are mostly superficial, the guy managed to get to a safe location in time. His wares, the dogs and puppies were stolen by Bitch who escaped into the Docks. Armsmaster followed after Batch based on eyewitness accounts of her last location. He chanced upon Skidmark and Squealer who were in the midst of a major drug deal, and both sides ended up skirmishing. The rest as they say is history."

"Oh… no wonder it wasn't in the news." Battery said with a soft chuckle. "Not much eye witnesses in the docks I guess. And Armsmaster is not going to offer that information to the media anyway."

Colin Wallis, cape name Armsmaster, had a certain stiff pride. As the current leader of Brockton Bay's Protectorate, it would be a blow to his ego if it was known the two meth dealing capes had gotten the better of him. Not that there was anything wrong with sustaining light damage from a fight with those two. Skidmark and Squealer would be a terrifying pair in a fight if they could get their heads out of drugs and learn to use their powers wisely.

But Colin most likely would not see it that way. Not to mention the Protectorate's publicity mandate was to never offer information about failures to the public unless they were already aware of it. Only the victories were to be publicly highlighted. Battery never did agreed with that mandate because it will only enable behaviours of self-importance in Heroes.

"Colin will never willingly make himself look bad." Velocity said with a snort as he moved towards the couch behind the control station, gathering his stuff. "I admit he's the most capable of all of us in a fight, but sometimes he's like this super-efficient well-oiled human machine, with the social skills of one as well."

"He's not that bad... on most days." Battery said with a grin. She turned to see Velocity slinging on a bag as he walked towards the entrance of the control room. "I'll see you tomorrow Robin."

"You too Jamie." Velocity said waving back at her.

As the door to the control room closed, Battery went back to the control screen, opening up the parahuman forums in one window, the late night news in another smaller window, and also the chat logs from the call center. Seeing nothing of note in the call logs and the news at the moment, Battery moved on to the forum.

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** Topic: Villain attacked Lord Street Market**

**In: Boards **►** Places **►** America **►** Brockton Bay **

► **Marsplanet **(Original Poster)

Posted on June 21st June, 2010: 1645hrs

Was in Brockton Bay for vacation and saw an actual villain! The cape was unmasked, seems like a rough looking teenage girl with these giant ugly dogs. She was getting them to attack a pet stall vendor of all things. I managed to take a video with my cellphone. Here is the link.

► **CapeFanatic **

Posted on June 21st June, 2010: 1646hrs

That's Rachel Lindt aka Bitch aka Hellhound. Her powers have something to do with those giant dogs of hers. She has one charge of manslaughter and is on the run from the law. You are one lucky dude to still be alive man!

► **FanboyOzie **

Posted on June 21st June, 2010: 1650hrs

The size of those monster dogs look terrifying. Why is she robbing the pet stall? And check out that hot stall owner from opposite the street in the later half of the video. The way she just walked up to two of the monster dogs and stare them down, is she also a cape?

► **Doglover **

Posted on June 21st June, 2010: 1653hrs

Hellhound isn't a villain! She is just a misunderstood Rogue who makes it her life's mission to speak up for the canine race! It's obvious from the video that she was just freeing the animals in the cages at the pet stall!

► **FanboyOzie **

Posted on June 21st June, 2010: 1650hrs

Oh god… not the she's a Villain who is just a misunderstood Rogue argument again. That line had been used so many times in other Villain threads that it's no longer funny.

► **CapeFanatic **

Posted on June 21st June, 2010: 1700hrs

From Brockton Bay's news report, Hellhound was after the caged dogs in the stall, she left after she got them. As for the hot stall owner, she is just a concerned citizen. Apparently she is some sort of herbalist, with a stall opposite the street. According to the reporter's interview, some of the caged animals were injured, the stall owner was actually offering Hellhound some medicine for the animals.

► **NerdFingers**

Posted on June 21st June, 2010: 1703hrs

The stall owner's hot, I just saw her actual interview on TV. That grainy camera phone video didn't do her justice. Here's a link to the TV interview.

► **WhiteBeauty**

Posted on June 21st June, 2010: 1705hrs

Oh I visited her stall this morning. She had this whole collection of totally natural products. Medicine, cream, lotions, spices and fruits. I bought a bottle of Rose hand cream which is one of the sweetest smelling product I have ever used. I applied some in the morning and I am still smelling refreshingly fragrant right now. I am definitely going over to get some more tomorrow. She told me she will be around for another two days.

► **FanboyOzie **

Posted on June 21st June, 2010: 1710hrs

Wow… maybe I will drop by her stall tomorrow to get some fruits ;)

► **Marsplanet **

Posted on June 21st June, 2010: 1712hrs

The stall owner closed up her stall pretty quick after her interview. I will probably drop by with my wife tomorrow. Our shopping was interrupted by the attack.

…

…

XxxxX

Battery scrolled through the rest of the posts on the attack of Lord Street Market, but most of the post had derailed off the actual topic, a number of the posters were in a fierce debate about some blond haired bombshell. She opened up other threads under Brockton Bay, but nothing major popped up. Someone in the docks did see Armsmaster facing off Skidmark and Squealer and have created a thread about it. Thankfully there were no captured video of the incident however.

Battery heaved a sigh of relief, at least there were no further threads about sightings of the new cape, or any Empire Eighty-Eight propaganda on the forums about her. Maybe Velocity was right and the girl had done the clever thing and skipped town.

She could only hope. Too many young would-be-Heroes died because they did not know the hidden rules of the parahuman battlefields, lacking the cunning and battle awareness to survive long. Battery could only pray the young cape did not become one of the numerous casualties in their increasingly chaotic world, or become one of the parahuman lackeys among the local villain gangs.

OoooO

Danny looked up at the clock from his seat at the dining table as he heard the front door opened. It was half past eight and the skies were already dark outside. Since it was the school holidays, he had no idea what his daughter was doing out so late. Taylor had always been a quiet child who had been closer to his wife Anne then himself. The death of his wife had been particularly tough on the two of them. And even now, Danny had no idea how to really talk to his daughter, to be there for her, at least not like his wife did.

"Dad." Taylor called out as she entered the house, her cheeks seemingly flushed. Yet there was a cheerfulness in her eyes that seldom showed during the past half a year.

Even as Danny thought that, he tried to recall when was the last time he had seen Taylor even a little happy. It was distressing that the last true smile he had seen from his daughter was when Anne was still alive. He had been so busy making enough money to pay off the mortgage, to pay the bills and daily expenses in the poor shipping economy, that he had truly neglected Taylor.

"Taylor. I made some dinner." Danny said as he took a few prepared dishes and began heating them up. He chose his next words carefully, not wanting to upset his daughter. "So where have you been? I thought you said you were going to the library... You have been there the whole day?"

"Oh I went there in the morning, to return some books." Taylor said, before reaching in her wallet and taking out a stack of money. "After that, I went to interview for a part time job as a stall vendor's assistant in Lord Street Market. The owner hired me on the spot, and wanted me to start work right after that. The stall owner was very nice, I will probably be working for her for the rest of the holidays. She pays a lot per hour too. I know how hard it has been around the house, I want to help out too. Here's a hundred for the groceries this month."

Danny felt his throat closed as he looked at his daughter, so young, yet she was already incredibly mature for her age. Shame filled him at not being able to give her a better home life, of providing her with more luxuries that the better off teenagers usually have. He tried to push Taylor's outstretch hand back to her.

"No Taylor, you worked hard for that. Keep it. Save up and use it for yourself. I can still manage the bills on my own." Danny said, knowing that he was being a little stubborn. If Anne was still alive, she would probably ribbed him for his bull-headed man pride.

A look of hesitation crossed Taylor's eyes. "But dad… I want to help. Please…"

Danny crumbled at the pleading look in Taylor's eyes and accepted the money Taylor pushed into his hands. "Thank you Taylor… So tell me more about this part time job of yours."

"The stall owner is this very beautiful lady, she sells homemade medicines, lotions and other stuff. Sales is pretty good, and she is confident that the estimated profits she would make every day would be enough for her to book the stall all the way through the end of the school holidays." Taylor said as Danny set the heated dishes in front of her.

"Ah… she's an out-of-towner?" Danny asked.

Brockton Bay's shipping industry might have died, but its tourist trade was still booming more than ever. The city also had a seedier and much more recent reputation as one of the few places in the USA, where you can get access to rare exotic drugs easier and cheaper than anywhere else.

That was why Danny also made sure his daughter was home before dark. Brockton Bay was on a slow decay to death, and Danny had been saving a little on the side, in the event that things got so bad he and his daughter had to leave town.

"She lives in the outskirts of the city, her family owns a farm and she sells products made from plants at the stall." Taylor offered the information.

Danny nodded, the stall owner Taylor was working for sounded like an alright sort of woman, but maybe he should go down to the market one afternoon, to make sure she was on the up and up. "So where is this stall you are working at?"

"It's a corner stall, right at the west intersection in Lord Street Market." Taylor offered. "I wouldn't be there the whole day though, the stall owner had me getting more goods from her nearby warehouse sometimes. The place is nowhere near the docks Dad, so there is no need to worry."

"Alright, just be careful." Danny said nodding as he listened to his daughter talk about her day. For a moment, it was as though they were a family again. It was as though Anne was still around, guiding Taylor out of her quiet shell. It was as though the two of them could talk to each other again, after months of strained silence or awkward conversations after Anne's death.

Danny could see the sparkle of life in Taylor's eyes now, as though she was finally venturing out of her cloud of silence and isolation, ready to take on the world, just like her mother did. Anne had been like the sun, bright and cheerful, ready to speak out against any injustice. Taylor's personality had been more like his, quiet, maybe sullen at times, but Anne had loved both of them all the more for it. Now as Taylor talked, Danny was able to see a bit of his wife in Taylor, that his daughter was growing up and growing strong.

Danny wished the moment would never end. Whatever the case, he was sure tomorrow would be a better day.

OoooO

Taylor stood on the landing, relaxing as she heard the soft snores of her father from his room. It was only a little past ten, but her father had turned in for the night as he usually did. His work was gruelling, Taylor knew considering the numerous times he had brought her to his work place when she was in grade school.

_Thanks Hashirama._ Taylor thought silently to her past self as she made her way carefully down the basement. _Thanks for telling me to talk to my dad… I guess… I never really wondered why we just drifted apart after mom died. And then the bullying at school started and all I could care about that time was how miserable I was._

_It always helps to have a second pair of eyes looking at things_. Hashirama said warmly. _Your father cares about you, he just has no idea how to express it. Unlike my father… your sire cared for you because you are his daughter, not because you are a future asset to the clan._

_I guess it must be tough back in your world. I still remember seeing you kill your first man when you are just a kid._ Taylor said with a mental shudder. _Things might be bad in my world, but at least around here, most countries don't train children to kill before they were even eight._

_Well the time when I was born into was a time of chaos. Nine powerful chakra beasts roamed the world freely, ravaging the lands like they were unstoppable natural disasters. In a way, those monsters were like the Endbringers of your world, except your world had three unstoppable entities, my world had nine. _Hashirama said, his warm mental voice dimming slightly. _The ninja clans were at war with each other while trying to survive in a world where the tailed beasts roamed free._

_But from your memories, you and your wife found a way to deal with the tailed beasts didn't you?_ Taylor asked. She was down in the basement now making her way around with a piece of chakra paper inked with an activated Light seal. She passed through the illusion wall and quickly entered the tunnels.

_When Mito married me, I learnt that the Uzumaki clan possessed powerful containment seals created by their Seal masters long ago, to contain the tailed beasts. The Uzumaki clan never used them because of the sacrifice required to use those seals_. _Many of which required a human sacrifice._ Hashirama stated as Taylor made her way into the training bunker, cutting a path straight to her Greenhouse.

_I eventually learn to use my Wood Release bloodline to subdue them, with my wife creating a special set of seal arrays to temporarily contain those tailed beasts into inanimate objects, without the cost of a human sacrifice. _Hashirama said in remembrance._ Only one of the tailed beast was sealed into a living host at the time. Mito managed to modify a set of Uzumaki containment seals to seal the nine-tailed beast into her body without sacrificing her own life._

_I distributed the rest of the tailed beasts to other ninja villages, in hopes of promoting peace… Only things did not turn out the way I wanted. Each of the ninja villages began researching ways to contain the tailed beasts in living hosts to turn them into living weapons. Most can only last for years or decades, a few are permanent but cause undesirable effects on the containment hosts, only a handful were like the seal array Mito used on herself to contain the nine-tails, which was made to last a lifetime without side effects. _Hashirama stated regretfully at the memory.

_I was foolish then, believing in the better nature of people._ Hashirama continued. _I learnt better after the Second Shinobi war. Several of the ninja villages with their own permanent containment seals, implanted the tailed beasts into human hosts, turning those "demon containers" into terrifying weapons that would last until their death. In my attempt to create peace, I created a different kind of war._

_That doesn't sounds like your fault._ Taylor said at Hashirama's words. _You can't predict the actions of people. But you did managed to seal the tailed beasts in your world away. Do you think I can do the same with the Endbringers in my world?_

_You will need at least Hokage level chakra reserves before you can attempt that safely. With the rapid rate your chakra reserves are growing, and that's if you continue your daily chakra training, you might reach Hokage level chakra reserves in around another two years or so._ Hashirama stated._ I might be able to encourage that chakra growth with a few special techniques, but your chakra system have to be more mature first, and be able to withstand the stress of those techniques._

_I see… that will be incredible… so you mean I can actually seal away the Endbringers? For real?_ Taylor asked in disbelief. The Endbringers had been ravaging Earth for decades. Killing thousands of superpowered humans who had banded together to stop them. It was near impossible for her to believe she could really do anything about them. She had only first asked Hashirama about it out of curiosity, not because she really thought such a thing was possible.

_Yes it is possible. The most powerful tailed beast, the Nine Tails could cause massive earthquakes and destroy mountains. The Three Tails were recorded to have sank islands. If the containment seals I know of could contain them, they should be able to contain the Endbringers of your world. _Hashirama said with the equivalent of a mental shrug. _The containment seals I have in mind for you to use will not require a sacrifice of life, but they aren't your ordinary run-off-the-mill seal arrays though. You will need at least Hokage level chakra to activate the seals and contain one of your Endbringers, much less three. If you plan to go after the Endbringers one day, try… targeting them one at a time._

_Oh wow…_ Taylor thought stumped. Imagining herself going up against the massive Endbringers just gave her the shivers. _I don't think I am ready to set such a high target for myself right now. You say I will probably need another two more years to become powerful enough to use those seals right, or lesser if I reach Hokage level chakra? Let's set that subject on the back burner for now. Thinking about going against the Endbringers is giving me a tummy ache._

_So, you are going to create the new set of goods for tomorrow?_ Hashirama asked changing the topic obligatory.

_Yes, and I am planning to add some new inventory._ Taylor said with a grin. _Nobody's selling flowers in our stretch of the street, and the farmer that dropped by the stall this afternoon talked about the prices for good fertilizer. Sounds like a good opportunity to increase our revenue._

_You are beginning to get a good head for business._ Hashirama said in approval. _Once you got more profits coming in, you should think about really hiring someone to help you run the stall. Your cover story to your dad was good, and in terms of practically, hiring help would enable you to spend your time on other critical areas, like training up your Ninjutsu. And once you have a larger chakra reserve and more chakra control, I will teach you a special technique that will make handling all these tasks in your life less of a headache._


	4. Chapter 4

**Story Title: Village Hidden in the Bay**

**Crossover:** Worm/ Naruto

**Disclaimer:** This is a fanfiction. No profit is made from the story. Just a fan's way of keeping the fandoms alive.

**Summary:** She was destined to be the saviour of her world. She was the fated antihero, coming into power on Jan 2011. Yet webs of fate could be altered. Realities away, a forbidden technique was used, and the web of destiny… was shattered.

**Chapter Four – Change is Coming**

_Reality 8757-A41, Brockton Bay, 30th June 2010_

Ashley Medina paused at the threshold of the job agency. She felt weary as she looked at the small ground floor office that she had been in and out of, for the past two weeks. Ever since her husband died after being stabbed by some Empire Eighty-Eight gang thugs, she had been finding whatever jobs she could, just to keep the bills paid, and to keep her son fed.

Selling off her two room apartment while getting a smaller place downtown had kept the family going for four months, but the funds were running low again, and if she did not find work soon, she might have to pull her son Trevor out of school. It was a situation she would rather not have occurring. Her son needed to be educated, so he would have a prospect in future. But a Hispanic women with only High school education had very few job choices in Brockton Bay.

She had been rejected for jobs more time than she could count, but she had to keep trying, if only for her son. Gathering up her resolve, she stepped into the office. The receptionist gave her a dismissive look after taking down her details. Ashley waited for several minutes on the dusty red couch which had seen better days. Surprisingly, someone came to get her faster than her usual wait.

She was led to an interview room. Her heart sank as she saw the job agent she was paired to sitting next to a beautiful young white woman who was most probably the employer. She knew what would happen. The young woman would reject her because of her skin colour or some other faults, she would be sent back home to wait for another call…

"Ah so you are Ashley Medina." The young woman said, getting up, clasping Ashley's hands with a warm smile. Ashley paused in surprise, usually her agent would introduce her, and she had never seen any of the potential employers being so warm and friendly. Her agent blinked, apparently similarly surprised.

"Ashley, this is Ms. Helena Roberts, she is a stall vendor at Lord Street Market. Her business has been booming in over just a week, and she had decided to hire more help." The job agent introduced as all of them sat down. "She has finished hiring the help she needed for her new warehouse. You are called here today because you are one of four women Ms. Helen has selected to be her stall assistants."

"You will be paid fifteen dollars hourly. Eight hours work day, five days a week. Rest days are on weekdays, on rotation with other workers." Ms. Helen stated, causing Ashley's eyes to widen at the sum of money offered. On a good day, she might earn five dollars an hour, compared to that, the sum offered was huge. "I will be renting two stalls in Lord Street Market starting tomorrow. You will be managing one of the stalls with another woman I will be hiring. The contract is for one week, but as my business grows, I will be able to offer you a permanent position, with the related medical benefits. Are you fine with this offer?"

"Wait… you are offering the job to me now? Without an interview?" Ashley asked wide eyed, she had never expected the white woman to hire her in the first place.

"I have seen your resume as well as the two commendations your past employers have given you." Ms. Helen said with a smile. "You are a hardworking worker, I need someone like you. Will you take up the job?"

"I…" Ashley said in surprise before quickly recovering. She needed the job, especially if it paid this well. "Yes! Of course!"

"Good Mrs. Medina, I will need you to sign this contract." The job agent said pushing a stack of forms towards her. "Work will begin tomorrow at the stated location. As stipulated in the contract, you will be doing the following tasks…"

The agent droned on as she explained the contract to Ashley in detail. In a haze, she signed it at the end.

"Good Ashley." Ms. Helena smiled at her. "Welcome to the team."

OoooO

It was afternoon by the time Taylor reached home. After nine days of hectic sales in Lord Street Market and a morning of planning for future, she could finally take a break. Her business had doubled and tripled following the days after her TV interview in Helen Roberts' persona.

In total sales, she had made nineteen thousand, five hundred and thirty five. It was an unbelievable sum of money that even she had trouble comprehending. But of course, unlike normal businesses, she had no production costs or overheads, which explained her enormous profits. The amount of goods she could make was dependant on her chakra, and her chakra reserve was slowly increasing every day, which meant more goods and more potential sales.

More than half the profits she made were gained once she began fulfilling the furniture sales. "Hand crafted" furniture cost a lot out in the market, and hers were a lot cheaper, yet sturdier and made of quality wood. Once her reputation began to build, more furniture orders started coming in. A portion of her profits had went into hiring a mover truck team of four men and to rent a warehouse near Lord Street Market after the fifth day. The furniture would be deposited by Taylor into the warehouse, after which the mover team would access the warehouse to ferry the furniture to the buyers.

Part of her profits also went into extending her current stall lease. As of yesterday, she had renewed the contract of her stall for another week. She had also taken over the rental of the stall beside hers, renting it for a full week as well. This morning, in her Helena Roberts persona, she had hired four stall assistants for her two stalls. Each of them would work in rotations, with their off days being on weekdays. Thus there would be a minimum of three women working the stalls on weekdays, with all four present on the busy weekends.

By the time she paid off the job agencies, the movers, the rental for the stalls and warehouse, she had ten thousand, seven hundred and thirty five dollars of profits left. That lump sum of cash was sealed into a special seal array drawn on her left breast. It was easily concealed, yet constantly on her body. Of course, her father would have a coronary if he thought Taylor had started tattooing her body.

Taylor did have to admit that while looking for an easily accessible spot on her body to draw the storage seal, she had chosen her current seal location mostly out of a hint of naughty thrill. The old Taylor would not have been caught dead with a "tattoo" drawn on her breast, but the new chakra wielding Taylor was a totally different girl.

She had changed a lot over the past weeks, becoming more confident of herself, and all of this was because of Hashirama. In over a month, with the awakening of her past self, Taylor finally felt that she had grappled back the reins of her life again. She had powers now, powers that were growing stronger with every day of training. She felt in control of her life. When she was acting as Helena for the past few days, she even managed to break out of her shell of solitude, playing the role of a cheerful beautiful young woman who had the world at her feet.

Hashirama never forced or instructed her to do anything she did not want to do, unless it was related to the training of her powers. Instead for the decisions she made with her life, he was just there to support and be a guiding voice. Sometimes it was like having a big brother hovering at the back of her head. He would be there to catch her if she falls, and sometimes, he could be a pain in the arse as well.

Like now.

_You know I have been thinking._ Hashirama was saying, as Taylor went over the business plan she had drawn up in her notepad with Hashirama's occasional help._ Now that you have begun your plans for business expansion and have hired more help, you don't have to be in the market every day. And you have been doing quite well with your chakra training, you should take a few days' break, go out into the world, find new friends and have a life!_

"I do so have a life." Taylor said mulishly. "Training and running a business is having a life. And I have to be around the stalls for the next few days to settle the new assistants in."

_Well the stall assistants will need some guidance at first, but after that, there's no reason for you to manage the stalls every day. The whole point of hiring stall assistants is for them to run the stalls while leaving you free to do other things._ Hashirama pointed out. _And please don't tell me you want to do more training. Even the Genin in Konoha have rest days to avoid burning out. You have been training none stop for a month after I gave you your chakra system. You need a break. Surely you have some hobbies other than training and selling things?_

Taylor bit her lips. Memories of sleepovers with Emma in the past raised out of the depths of her mind. Emma had been her one and only friend, and after Emma betrayed her… well, Taylor had no one else. "I have other hobbies." Taylor stated, though even in her mind, she sounded uncertain. "I can go to the library."

_No._ Hashirama said firmly. _No conducting research on rest days. You already spent three evenings in the library researching the parahumans of Brockton Bay. That's not rest, that's work. Pick something else._

"I thought you said you will let me live my own life and make my own decisions." Taylor said grouchily.

_I did. _Hashirama said with the equivalent of a mental shrug. _It just doesn't apply to this matter._

"What!" Taylor said narrowing her eyes. "You promised to only guide me except in terms of my training! How can you just change your promise like that?"

_This is a unique circumstance. I am breaking the promise._ Hashirama said simply in a voice of amusement. _You will take a few off days after the sales assistants are settled in and do things that are not related to work or training._

"Or what?" Taylor said with a hint of challenge in her voice.

_Or… I will sing in your head. Constantly._ Hashirama said in a very smug mental tone. _In high notes. I will even whistle. Mito once told me I could crack glass with my whistles._

"Argh! You are impossible!" Taylor said growling, shoulders slumping in defeat. She had never heard Hashirama sung before, but she had no doubt he could be extremely annoying if he put his mind into it. Especially since _his_ consciousness… is in _her_ mind. "Fine! I will have a few rest days where I do _other_ things, after I trained up all the sales assistants, and make sure the business can run without me."

_Good._ Hashirama said in satisfaction.

Muttering angrily to show Hashirama how displeased she was, Taylor stalked down into the basement, making her way to the underground bunkers. She had a few chakra intensive plans scheduled later during the day, but now that she was fully annoyed, she decided to settle those tasks first.

One of the major task for today was to build a new underground bunker. This new bunker would be her "Cape Cave" a place where she could create armour or weapons for herself, or store any future equipment she would be buying to make her own cape costume. Taylor was not planning to be a Hero, or out her existence to the local cape community anytime soon, but she was going to start preparing for the eventuality.

The cape cave would be constructed on the other end of the training bunker, with a path leading to the surface. Based on her plans, the upward path would be situated between the cape cave and the training bunker. The secondary surface entrance would come out of her own backyard, on the ground right next to her back door which was facing the side road. It would take several Genjutsu and Protection seal arrays to secure the new entrance from any unwanted sight or entry. The bunker would also need its own set of _Chakra Shield_ seal array to prevent any spying attempts from above ground. The whole project would occupy her for several hours at least.

As she began to work, Hashirama started humming a happy tone.

OoooO

_Reality 8757-A41, Brockton Bay, 1st July 2010_

_The new job was… interesting._ May Jihoo thought as she tended to the stall that she and her partner was in charge of. The stall she was handling sold a wide variety of bottled spices, traditional medicines and sweet smelling lotions. She and her partner also had to assist in taking down furniture orders based on a furniture catalogue placed next to the rosewood stall table.

The furniture listed in the catalogue was obviously hand crafted and of the highest quality. May had taken a look at the furniture catalogue during the down times, and had already spotted a few nice pieces she wanted to order for her place.

To be honest, there was no need for the petite dark haired woman to work. Born to a rich Korean-American family, her father left her with quite the inheritance. Her husband worked as an attorney in Leigh and Bayle, one of Brockton Bay's most prestigious international law firm. Her only son Park Jihoo studied in Immaculata High, a prestigious private school in the nicest part of Brockton Bay. She was basically a rich man's wife, a rich woman in her own right.

But there had also been a streak of rebelliousness within her. She had been the good daughter, the good wife all her life. The stay at home wife who dolls up, look pretty for her husband, and greet the guests. She gave up her ambitions for a career because that was not an appropriate role for an upper class daughter and wife.

Then her father died. She discovered her husband had been having a long term affair with his secretary. Something within her had died. For a period, she had been broken, but she had come out of it stronger. To maintain the appearance of a healthy marriage, for her son's sake, she and the scumbag of her husband had agreed not to divorce.

Her husband had continued his dalliance, while May had decided that since her son was able to take care of himself now, she would begin living her own life, the life she wanted for herself. It was too difficult for her to begin any sort of career at her age with no working experience. Even if she had the capital to set up a company of her own, she had no idea what business she should start-up or invest in. And she was not going to accept any pity favours from her friends by taking up jobs at their companies, or spurge her money in investments that would not work.

In the end, she decided to take up part time jobs that would strike her interest, it would occupy her time and distract her from her husband's affair. Not to mention it would shame her husband once news of her "acting out" spreads. Sure some of high society wives might snub her when they found out about her "eccentricities" but honestly after what she had been through, she could care less. She was going to take charge of her life and do what she wanted. This particular job falls under the category of "very interesting".

Her new "Boss", the stall's owner was in fact getting quite a reputation in the higher echelon of Brockton Bay's blue bloods. In part, it was because of the super model looks of the young owner. But a large reason was actually due to the quality products the young woman sold. Her beauty creams were rumoured to be one of the best smelling products in the market. Those who used it had claimed that their skin looked healthier and softer. Now that May was selling those products, she could at least attest to the fact that the creams and lotions smelled really good.

When May first met Helena Roberts at the job agency, the middle aged woman had been prepared to hate Helena just on the principles of the woman being prettier and younger than her. But May had never been a petty woman, and when Helena had showed her a display of friendliness and sincerity, May had changed her mind about the young woman. Helena was no blond haired bimbo, in fact May knew that there was a brain in that pretty head, considering the young woman's business success in a little more than a week since the start of her business.

The morning crowd had stunned May, but she was able to get on with the rhythm shortly after. The goods have been carefully tagged with prices so there was little chance for May to make a mistake. And after a while, May realised she was liking the banter with the customers while promoting her products. Especially since the products she was selling was already well received by the crowd.

Helena in the meantime was running between the two stalls she had rented. She would stay with May and her partner, Leia for a while, before moving to the next stall which was a fruits and flowers stall, that took orders for high grade fertilizers on the side. There were two other women operating the stall which was doing quite a brisk business as well. May could certainly understand why. The fruits and flowers Helena were selling had a remarkable wholesome and vibrant appearance, and several gardening enthusiasts had already placed orders to try out the new fertilizers on sale. In fact all the products Helena put on sale had a certain high quality feel to them.

Though the stall she was working in had a shelter, May managed to work up a healthy tan by late afternoon. The crowd might have lessened, but a large number of tourists and locals still dropped by the stalls. A few were apparently regulars, like the stern faced Chinese looking man that just walked up to the stall. The man was tall and lanky, scars decorated his bare arms, and he gave off an intense presence.

"The usual." The man said, after looking at the stall and its sister stall beside it.

"Oh." May said quickly taking out a notepad where Helena had written out instructions and orders earlier in the day. Helena had just left for a toilet break, she or her partner would have to deal with the customer. "My apologies, this is my first day here, you are Mr…?"

"Hao. Just Mr. Hao." The man said curtly.

May quickly glanced down the notepad, finding the man's name and his regular orders. "Alright 6 bottles of saffron, 10 bottles of pepper, 10 bottles of cinnamon powder and 10 bottles of chilli coming right up." May said, smiling at the man as she quickly packed his orders. "That's a big order. You are a cook?" May asked, making small talk as she worked. At the other end of the stall, her partner Leia was attending to someone else, although the woman was shooting skittish looks at her.

"No." The man said bluntly, seemingly hostile and not willing to indulge in any small talk. He also glowered at her, most probably to shut her up. The look was fierce enough to cause May to stiffen for a moment. Then her hackles began to raise as she glared back at the man. Mr. Hao was acting as though she had offended him or something.

"My sister runs a restaurant, I just helped her pick up the spices." The man finally relented when May refused to back down from the staring contest.

"Well that's ninety two dollars in total." May stated as she handed over the package. As Mr. Hao passed her the money, she added candidly. "You might try shaving your eyebrows a little."

"What!" Mr. Hao said, giving her a stunned look at her off-hand comment.

"You seemed like someone that frowns a lot." May said, still feeling upset over the antagonizing attitude the man had given her, putting a bit of bite in her comment. "You might want to try shaving your eyebrows a little so that they don't look like giant caterpillars when you scrunch your face at people."

"…" The man stared at her wordlessly before turning around and stalking off into the crowd.

"Wow May… that was very brave of you." Leia said, walking towards her, the woman's eyes were wide as saucers.

"Brave?" May stared at her in confusion. "I was just telling off a rude customer."

"You were just telling off… didn't you see the tattoo on his left biceps?" Leia said gaping at her. "He's from ABB!"

"Oh!" May said, suddenly feeling a little faint. ABB was one of the two most powerful villain gang in Brockton Bay, even the Protectorate had difficulties dealing with them. "Oh dear, I didn't see that tattoo."

"Do you think we should tell Helena?" Leia asked nervously. "In case ABB send some of its members to cause trouble?"

"I… I don't think they would dare do anything here in broad daylight." May said feeling a chill down her spine. "But yes, I think it is best for me to talk to Helena when she gets back…"

OoooO

Hao Yi, better known to the world as the cape Oni Lee, stalked through the crowd, finally reaching the western end of Lord Street Market, where his siblings ran a small Chinese restaurant. There was a small crowd dining in when he entered. His younger brother, officially the owner of the restaurant, was at the counter when he entered. The two brothers nodded to each other as Hao Yi made way for the kitchen, where his older sister served as the restaurant's head cook.

"Er Di!" Lai Hua smiled as he entered the kitchen, depositing the package of spices on her table. She put down her ladle as she turned to greet him in Chinese. It was an endearment she had called him by since young, because he was the second child in the family. "Have you eaten? I came up with a new hot and spicy recipe with cubed pork and chicken."

"I can't stay." Hao Yi said, looking around the crowded kitchen. "I need to leave for work after this."

Lai Hua stilled, the smile dropping from her lips, her right hand latching on his arm tightly. Then without a word, she began pulling him after her, towards the storage room. Pushing Hao Yi in, his sister entered, closing the door, shutting out the noises of the busy kitchen. She stared at the floor, not facing Hao Yi as she spoke with a tone of resignment.

"Can't you just not go?" Lai Hua asked softly, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "I saw the news last week. Fifteen people. The news were saying fifteen people were killed by your bombs and knives. Please Hao Yi, it has been more than a year. You have helped Lung set up his drug empire. You've long repaid our blood debt to him. Please brother… just leave the gang."

"Those people were from Empire Eighty-Eight, they are white supremacists!" Hao Yi said as Lai Hua glared at him, tears in her eyes.

"They are still people. Living breathing people with families of their own!" Lai Hua hissed at him, anger and a hint of horror at what he had done showing in her eyes. "Why can't you just scare them off? You are a god damn cape! They are just ordinary people, like me… and Dai Men." She said sternly as she mentioned their younger brother.

"I am Lung's main enforcer I have to show our enemies that ABB is not a force to be tangled with. There can be no mercy. Everyone I kill attest to the power of the ABB, it keeps the vultures from targeting the gang." Hao Yi said, his countenance unyielding. He loved his sister, he would do anything for his siblings, but there were some matters he could not cave in, even for them. This was one of them. "Lung rescued us from China. He kept me free from the Yàngbǎn. Our debt to him can never be repaid. Please Lai Hua, don't ask this of me."

Lai Hua shuddered at his words, tears dropping silently onto the floor as Hao Yi moved passed her. Giving one last look at his sister, he walked out of the storage room. He could not afford to be affected by his sister's conscience or tears, for he had made his path long ago. He had given away his heart and morals, for the safety and freedom of his family. To him, that was a fair trade.

His hands wept with the blood of more than a hundred people by now, but there was no room for regret, for his fate was already set in stone. Lai Hua could not understand that. Once you were in ABB, the only way to leave the gang was in a body bag, buried six feet under. And the families of the gang deserters suffered worst fates than that, not to mention the _other threat_ Lung still held over his family.

Lung held a set of documents that must never fall into any governments' hands. For should the truth about his family be revealed, he and his siblings would be hunted by all the governments in the world. And there would be no hiding from that.

His siblings were all that he had left. He had to protect them.

In the end, his sacrifice… was necessary.

OoooO

_Reality 8757-A41, Brockton Bay, 3rd July 2010_

Lisa Wilbourn was intrigued.

She had made her morning rounds, spotting a few rich and careless marks in the crowded Lord Street Market, and lifted enough cash off them to last her for another few days. She had tried getting jobs at first to get some steady form of income, but not many people wanted to hire a sixteen year old for serious jobs. She could not exactly tell everyone "Hey I am a Thinker. Let me work for you! I can tell you everyone's secrets in less than five minutes!"

Her brief stints as a dishwasher, a newspaper girl, and a cleaner, taught her that it was much easier for her to use her powers to start a thieving career, rather than to do manual labour for a pitiful sum of money. There was also the fact that the more she uses her power to observe and analyse her surroundings for easy marks, the more control and understanding over her ability she began to have. It was as the saying goes, practice does makes perfect.

Lord Street Market had been her hunting grounds for the past two week, though Lisa knew she needed to find another area to pickpocket soon. Probably somewhere more high end with a lot more pickings? Lisa had been noticing an increased number of security officers patrolling Lord Street Market recently. A few of them seemed to be looking for someone specifically. Lisa doubted she had appeared on anyone's radar yet, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Though she knew she had to stop hunting in the market area soon, the catch had been good while it lasted. The market area was where Lisa first supported the mystery that had been eating at her for the past few days. She still remember what happened clearly. It had been the third day since she came to Lord Street Market to hunt for easy marks. She had been lifting the pockets of a portly young man when she had spotted _Her_.

Helena Roberts, allegedly a beautiful young stall owner who had rented a stall in Lord Street Market. She gained quite an online reputation on the internet after a video of her facing off a rogue cape got onto the parahuman forum. Her business had literally bloomed within a week, and she apparently made enough profits to rent _two_ stalls side by side to hawk her wares. She even hired four assistants to assist her, which spoke of how well she was doing for herself.

Fruits, flowers, spices, herbs, traditional medicine, lotions, fertilizers and hand crafted furniture. All of those were products Helena was selling or promoting, and all of those products were of the highest quality Lisa had ever seen. But things just did not add up. With just a look, Lisa could tell that the rows of watermelons on sale were the biggest and sweetest watermelon she had ever seen. _She had no idea how she could tell how the watermelons taste with a look, but she guessed that the vibrant colours of the watermelons actually meant something to her power._

The flowers were of the brightest and sweetest smelling bunch Lisa had ever seen outside of digitally enhanced images. The spices were of the highest quality and cheaper than normal market prices, the bottles that contained them were also made of high quality oak. _Who the hell use expensive oak bottles to contain products without taking into account the price of the actual bottles' production?_

And the thing was, all of those products… were similar in nature, seamlessly uniform in shape and variety. All the watermelons were of the exact roundness and pattern, exact duplicates of each other. The flowers had the same bright colours and petal arrangements, exact duplicates again. The oak bottles were seamless and duplicates of each other. All the other products were exact duplicates of each other except for the spices, medicine and lotions. It was as though someone had invented a plant Xerox machine and had created duplicated copies of almost everything!

Then there was Helena herself. The first time Lisa had set eyes on her, her power had only screamed one word to her. _FAKE!_

_FAKE! what?_ Lisa had no idea. Her power could tell her if someone had gotten a nose job with just a look. She could tell if a guy had liposuction, or if that woman had breast implants, but every time she looked at Helena with her power activated, there was only one word. _FAKE!_

The mystery of what Helena really was had eaten at Lisa from the first day she spotted the woman and her stall(s) of Xerox plant goods. Lisa literally could not sleep most nights because she kept wondering what was wrong with the woman. What does _FAKE!_ means?

She could of course let her curiosity go, after all she was trying to keep a low profile. But a part of her wanted to discover the real answer to her question. Her power had never failed her before, this was the first time she actually went up against someone she could not understand instantly with her parahuman ability.

It became something of a personal affront and challenge to Lisa that this woman could hide her true self from her. That was part of the reason Lisa ended up tailing the woman. After all she had a lot of free time these days, unveiling the mystery of Helena Roberts seemed like a worthy entertainment for the afternoon.

She perched on a container in a side alley, where she had a clear view of Helena's stalls while remaining hidden in the shadows. The woman was currently bustling around the two stalls as she and her assistants coped with the lunch crowd. Lisa narrowed her eyes at the woman, eyeing each part of Helena's body, wondering which part of the woman was _FAKE!_ She could not even get a clear read of Helena's body movements with all strange mental interference her power was giving her.

Based on the information she had gathered with her power, Lisa knew that Helena was most probably a cape, a parahuman with special powers just like her. Helena's powers was most probably plant related if Lisa was to use the stuff the woman was selling as her baseline deduction. Of course, Helena's powers might have nothing to do with plants, it might be some kind of duplication ability instead.

Then there was the _FAKE!_ response that Lisa's power kept telling her every time she looked at Helena. That most probably implied Helena was a Changer, maybe she could change her appearance or something? She had done significant online parahuman research ever since she got her own powers, Lisa knew that there were actually records of cape abilities that allows one to transform part of his/her appearance or their whole bodies entirely.

Of course most Changers tend to be Case 53 as well. Known most commonly to the public as the "monster capes", they were a category of parahumans that apparently had very traumatic trigger events to the point where they lost all their memories after they triggered. Case 53 had special marks on their bodies, and most of them tends to have some inhuman features. They were classified under Changers not because they could transform their bodies, but because parts of their bodies were permanently altered.

There were a few infamous cases throughout the years, like the pitiful Slug man, the maniac Scorpio lady, the Human Amoeba… but from what Lisa could tell, Helena did not seem to be one of them. Every part of Helena seemed human in nature… just _FAKE!_

Lisa was sticking to her first Changer theory, that Helena had some kind of body transformation ability. She had actually started trailing Helena after the woman closed the stalls for the evening, and was beginning to come to the conclusion that the beautiful twenty year old model face and figure was not Helena's true appearance.

Trailing capes to uncover their identities was a big No-No in the cape scene, it was one of the many 'hidden cape rules' she discovered through her online parahuman research. But what she was doing now was just for fun, it was not as though she was going to reveal Helena's real identity once she figured out the stall owner's mystery. Lisa just wanted the sense of achievement when she discovered the answers. Not to mention it would proof that nothing could remain hidden from her power. It was arrogant, but well, she had time to spare, and very little to do for fun.

Time passed quickly at her stakeout, by the time evening arrived, Lisa was ready. To be safe, she trailed a distance behind Helena so that she would not be spotted. As what Lisa had observed of Helen's pattern during the past two days, the woman would enter the nearby toilet shortly after closing the stalls. A few minutes later, a wizened old lady wearing a solemn dark gown stepped out of the ladies together with a group of working class women. Unlike the first time when Lisa had trailed Helena, Lisa had kept her power activated the entire duration. The old lady was instantly pegged as _FAKE!_

A grin tugged at Lisa's lips. There was no doubt about it, the old lady was Helena. Carefully, she trailed the woman again. Letting the crowd separate them for a distance, Lisa managed to get onto the same bus as Helena this time round. Helena stopped after five stops, close to the eastern suburb of Brockton Bay. The district she stopped in contained rows of houses that had seen better days. The area was quiet and idyllic, almost peaceful. It was obviously not the richer part of Brockton Bay, but it was better than the neighbourhoods in downtown areas.

Helena, wearing the guise of an old woman, disappeared into a small busy diner, entering the toilet. Lisa waited outside, peering in discreetly through the restaurant windows. She was rewarded when a young girl close to her age stepped out of the ladies. Tall, dark haired, lanky and cute in a lost waif kind of way, the young girl was as different from supermodel Helena, and old grandmamma Helena, the way the sky was different from the ocean. Yet somehow Lisa's power registered the young girl's apparent confidence, the way she walked and moved. Somehow Lisa knew, the girl was Helena Roberts.

_Age 14 or 15. Body transformation power confirmed. Active transformation hinder analytic ability. _Her power whispered as Lisa observed the girl walking through the crowd in the diner. _Afraid of attracting attention to herself, shy away from contact with people instinctively. Have been bullied in the past. Stronger now. Changed. More confident. More self-esteem. Has recently gained a friend, or friends, someone/somebodies she could confide in. Someone that is there to support her._

Lisa blinked, a sly grin appearing on her face. _Now that was more like it._ Her power was working again.

_Movements firm, brisk and concise. Received training, have been training. Martial Arts? _Lisa's power deducted. _Poor situational awareness. Mild crowd phobia distracting her. Uncomfortable in her own skin. More confident when she was transformed. Self-confidence increased with the "fake appearances" she wore. Trust in her transformation ability to hide her identity. Guard is down, relaxed. She is on her way home._

The young girl walked out of the diner, down the street, not knowing that Lisa was trailing behind her. At the back of her mind, Lisa knew she should stop. She had proven to herself that Helena Roberts was really a cape with transformation power. She had already proven that her power, as always, had given her the answers again. Although it did take more work this time for her to uncover Helena's life story. There was really no need for her to follow Helena back to her home and uncover her real identity.

But Lisa's power pushed tantalizingly. There was an urge within Lisa to know more about the strange girl. She had already put in so much effort in uncovering Helena's mystery, surely following the girl some more, getting more information about her would not hurt? As long as Lisa stay out of sight, there was no cause for the girl to discover that she was being followed, no reason for Lisa to end up in any confrontation with the mysterious cape.

_She would just follow the girl back to her home and that would be enough. _Lisa promised herself. The cape's identity and home location would be her little secret. Something which she did not plan to tell anyone, although it was not as though she had anyone in town to tell, being a runaway and all.

The girl slipped onto a back road where there were less people. She stopped behind a run down two storey house and walked past a row of trees. Lisa picked up the pace. She had found the girl's home. Reaching the row of trees, she looked past to see nothing…

The back door of the house before her was closed. At first glance, it might have seen like the girl had entered the house, but her power was telling her something else.

_Helena never entered the house. Rusty hinges on door, should have screeching sound if opened. Heard slight thudding sound before rounding the corner. Wood. Thump. There is a trapdoor._ Lisa's eyes scoured the small and barren backyard of the house. As far as she could tell, there was nothing of interest except for two dried up rose beds. _Dirt disturbed to left of backdoor. Faint impression of shoe print leading up to patch of barren dirt next to house. Possible trapdoor location. Trapdoor hidden from normal sight._

Lisa's eyes widened at the information her power had provided her. What sort of powers did that mystery cape have? Was she a tinker of some kind? Able to create devices that hide things from sight? Or was she able to create illusions?

_Illusion based power higher probability. Fits in with the theme of Transformation ability._ Lisa's power provided intuitively. In a way that answer made the most sense. Capes with multiple superpowers always have a "theme". A cape that could create forcefields might have a secondary ability of energy blast or energy manipulation, while a cape that slow down time, might also be able to hasten time or create a time bubble.

There were few capes whose main and secondary powers were vastly different, in fact Lisa could not recall any that fit the category, except maybe Eidolon, one of the most powerful human cape in the world. And the legendary cape was a notorious exception to all power categories, being one of the few high level Trumps in the world.

Curiosity overwhelmed her caution. It was foolish, but with this new mystery presented to her so soon after she resolved the first mystery, she needed to know… _more_. She needed to know how Helena disappeared. She moved towards the location identified by her power as the most probable position of the hidden trapdoor.

A STRONG URGE TO LEAVE THAT AREA ALONE CONSUMED HER. THERE IS NOTHING THERE. NOTHING TO SEE. WALK AWAY.

Momentarily, Lisa's mind went blank, her body turned to move, and then her power blared at her, wrestling back control of her body. _Mental Compulsion! Mental Influence! Foreign. Artificial. Attack! _It cried. It strained. It struggled.

Lisa's head pounded as if she was beaten by hundreds of hands. Her power was straining to understand what just happened to her. She gasped, her head was splitting. She tried to deactivate her power but discovered with a chill of horror than she could no longer sense the instinctive access to her gift, as though something was blocking access to her power while trying to get her to LEAVE. Her power continued its analysis in full blast, like an unstoppable ram. Trapped in a sea of information she could not comprehend or escape from, she froze in place.

A STRONG URGE TO LEAVE THAT AREA ALONE CONSUMED HER. THERE IS NOTHING THERE. NOTHING TO SEE. WALK AWAY.

Her mind went blank again. Her brain throbbed. Lisa whimpered. She could not think. She felt weak, as if her entire body was rebelling against her, caught between two titanic forces. The strange OVERPOWERING URGE was telling her to move away, her power was fighting against that urge, that compulsion.

Her power was screaming danger, theorising a high level of danger to someone of her own analytical ability. Her power of intuitive analysis was vastly ineffective to deal with a threat it could not even begin to comprehend. Yet unable to deactivate, it continued to analyse the incomprehensible. Lisa just stood motionless, staring blankly before her, drool escaping from her gaping mouth, unable to _complete_ any of her thoughts, unable to do anything. Her legs weakened, and suddenly she was falling.

The air rushed passed her as she suddenly found herself collapsing onto the ground… _Sensation, wood. Visual, dirt. Trapdoor found. Visual illusion. Sensation of hand and face on wood. Designs of some sort were crafted on the trapdoor. Detect mild heat. Energy from design… Burning her. Unable to hide from touch. Unnatural. Not comprehendible. Not of this world. Never before encountered. Resist. Fight. Attack!_

A STRONG URGE TO LEAVE THAT AREA ALONE CONSUMED HER. THERE IS NOTHING THERE. NOTHING TO SEE. WALK AWAY.

Lisa felt her stomach rebelling, bile raising to her throat. She felt sick, horribly sick. Her mind was a cesspool of information that did not make sense. Something within her brain stretched, screamed, trying to **_adapt_**… and **_tore_**…

_Stars filled her vision. Blackness of space. Large objects. Beings. Sparkles, shards. She could almost understand what was happening… The cosmos infinite… the entities… pulsing crystals…. other worlds…. desert… ocean… mountain… forest… sucking energy… worlds dying… crystals, shards… growing… changing… gestat…_

_…_

_…_

Her mind went blank again. She had no recollection of what just happened. Why was she here lying on the ground again? Her mouth taste sour. What… happened?

She tried to focus, but there was only the mental pain in her head. She felt sick, like _dying_ sick. Vomit came out of her mouth. It was this afternoon's lunch. She felt hot, as if she was running a high fever. In a confused and sickish haze, she clawed at the engraved wooden surface below her, she felt an invisible latch, almost instinctively she pulled…

Cold harsh energy surged through her body. Her hand let go of the latch as she gave a small scream. Physical pain erupted, adding to her mental agony. Her body locked up and she collapsed onto the wooden trapdoor. She hurt everywhere. She felt like she was dying. Tears formed in her eyes. She was going to die.

_HELP!_ She sobbed, wrecked with physical and mental pain. Her throat refused to work, even though the words were there in her thoughts. For a moment, she felt a vast connection with many… things? Beings? Many felt alien, some were familiar. It was as though she was floating in a sea of darkness, surrounded by pinpricks of coloured lights. Those lights were speaking, but she could not understand them. She felt even sicker as the strange sensations engulfed her. She screamed, her voice refusing to work. _PLEASE! HELP ME!_

Lost in overwhelming agony, she did not hear the sudden total silence descending in the surrounding area. As darkness consumed her, her last sensation was of herself sliding to the side, as the door below her was lifted. She saw a shadow being cast over her. There was a soft horrified gasp, a scent of roses, firm hands lifting her up…

And she fainted.


End file.
